Kakashi's daughter III
by MsHuntergrl
Summary: Rieka is back in Konoha, after 3 years away. She is no longer the same girl she used to be and Kakashi doesn't know what to do, nor does anyone else. Where does her loyalties lie these days? With Konoha? Or with the criminal who slaughtered his entire clan?
1. The beginning

**This is the third part of my series about Kakashi and his daughter Rieka. I suggest you read the first 2 parts before reading this. Those who like these stories might also want to check out my "Hardships of a ninja father" - story and/or "Kakashi love song", both about Kakashi and Rieka. **

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A small figure, no bigger than the one of a twelve or thirteen year old girl, lay on the bench that served as a bed in the small room in which she was imprisoned. She lay on her side, back to the door, facing the wall. Her brown hair was long and as it fell over the edge of the bench it almost reached the floor. The guard standing outside the door often glanced over at her but she never seemed to move. In fact she had been that way for almost two days now, not moving even to eat.

Two men came walking along the corridor and the guard straightened up for his superiors. One of the men had a very long, blond ponytail, which in no way made him look girly, while the other one was bald with his head full of scars, witnesses of a hard life as a ninja. Both men came to a halt outside the cell and they looked at the girl, or what little they could see of her. The one with the ponytail then glanced at the guard and asked:

- "Still nothing?"

- "Nothing, Yamanaka-san. She hasn't moved an inch."

Yamanaka sighed before he gave his companion a quick look. For most people, including the guard, it looked like the man was angry and radiating killing intent. But for Yamanaka, who had worked alongside this man for many, many years, it was obvious that the reason was another.

- "Open the door please", Yamanaka asked.

Quickly the guard obeyed, fearing that the angry looking man might take his anger out on him otherwise. The keys clinked together as he fumbled to get the right one and it seemed to take an eternity before the door swung open to allow the two men access to the cell. They entered together, none of them bothering to close the door behind them.

- "Rieka?" Yamanaka said silently.

No reply came. The figure on the bed did not move. Yamanaka sighed heavily.

- "For heaven's sake, say something!" the bald man exclaimed in a highly unusual outburst of emotions. "Don't just ignore us!"

But the figure on the bench did do just that and it was obvious to Yamanaka that his friend was hurt by this fact. He was too, if he were to be totally honest.

- "Ibiki…" he began, but since he didn't know what to say he never finished the sentence.

For a couple of minutes the cell was all quiet, no one said a word. The slight breathing of the girl on the bed as well as the two men was all that could be heard, assuring them that she at least was still alive.

- "Sometimes I think it was a mistake for us to train you as we did", the man named Ibiki said before he turned around and left the cell.

Yamanaka looked after him and then turned back to the figure again, torn.

- "He's just upset with this whole situation", he tried to explain. "If you would just talk to him I know it would cheer him up."

Since the figure still did not move Yamanaka sighed again before he followed the other man, leaving it to the guard to close and lock the door behind him.

The figure in the cell did not move even at the sound of the cell-door being closed again, remembering her of her state as a prisoner. Tears burned in her eyes but she refused to let them fall, refused to let them sense the salty-smell next time someone decided to visit her. Instead she took another breath, a little deeper than normal but that was hardly visible, and tried to steel herself again. _I chose this, _she told herself. _I made my choice and now I'm taking the consequences of it._

Nearly three years ago she had run away from this village, leaving friends and family behind. She'd never said goodbye to any of them, not even explained why she did what she did. And now she was back, not by her own choice mind you. It was painfully obvious that her presence was hurting those she had once held so close to her and she couldn't help but feel guilty for just leaving. Sadly those guilty feelings would just make her feel even guiltier because she still did not regret doing what she did.

Sighing quietly she managed to suppress the tears, pulling her knees a little further up towards her chest. _I chose this. I do not regret anything, _she reminded herself.

Meanwhile a figure was making its way across the rooftops of Konoha, heading towards one particular house. Landing in front of the house she hesitated a moment before entering the house, without knocking or otherwise alerting the owner of the house of her presence. Anko deemed that unnecessary, as Kakashi had grown used to seeing her in his house at different times of the day throughout the last three years. Normally he didn't mind. However she wasn't so sure that their relationship would remain as simple as that much longer.

Kakashi was in the kitchen, just finishing his breakfast when Anko entered. He smiled at her, honestly glad to see her, but did not further comment on her being in his house. Anko, being the woman she was, especially around this man, promptly pulled out the chair Kakashi was sitting on, straddled his lap and planted her lips firmly on his.

Several minutes later they parted, both of them panting slightly. With his arms still wrapped around her waist Kakashi smiled at her again and whispered, lips millimeters from hers:

- "Good morning to you too love."

Snickering Anko regretfully pulled further away, looking him in the eyes in a way that told him that she was going to say something serious.

- "What is it?" he asked when she did not say anything.

She sighed and started playing with the pockets of his vest, eyes locked on what she was doing rather than meeting his.

- "There's something I need to tell you and you won't like it."

- "You married?" he asked, jokingly.

- "No", she replied, hitting him on the shoulder.

Sensing her nervousness he gently began massaging her shoulders and arms like she'd been a little child. It seemed to calm her down somewhat, though she did not stop playing with his pockets or look up to meet his eyes.

- "A few days ago an ANBU-team returned with a captive. Their missions had been to gather intelligence, not to get involved in any fighting. In one way or another they managed to catch one of their targets and brought it back here. However, there were… complications."

The playing had stopped and a finger was now gently tracing a seam up and down, over and over again. She was tense, apparently hesitant in what she was going to tell him. Kakashi remained silent, unsure of why she would tell him about this. He was no longer ANBU, hadn't been for many years, and therefore not qualified to know of secrets such as these. This was the first time she had told him anything about what happened during her work-hours.

- "This captive was… young. And her loyalties were… questionable, at the best. The Hokage ordered we'd rather try to get whatever intelligence we could from the captive in the most humane way possible. So Yamanaka was ordered to do his thing."

When she once again fell quiet Kakashi felt obliged to comment in some way, though he wasn't sure how. Hands tracing her arms lightly he remained relaxed in his chair.

- "Sounds reasonable and good so far", he told her.

- "Yeah, I guess… Problem was that Yamanaka could not get anything. This girl somehow managed to just… block him out."

- "That's… unusual."

The Yamanakas were known for their mind-jutsus, and Inoichi Yamanaka had an ability to force himself into peoples mind and read their secrets. This was very useful in the interrogation of captives and had, as far as Kakashi knew, never failed.

- "Yes it is. So we had to try other means to get captive to speak. Threats, pleading, tricky conversations; you name it, we tried it all apart from torture."

Morino Ibiki was the second member of the intelligence squad; a perfectly terrifying man with a sadistic streak, a specialist at torture who enjoyed inflicting pain to his victims. Kakashi had never really liked the man.

- "So Ibiki is next up then?" he asked, believing he knew where this was going. "Don't worry, I'm sure the Hokage will find another solution rather than to let him torture someone too young."

Seeing the look in Anko's face Kakashi realized that he had misunderstood the situation. Anko was not worried about someone "young" getting tortured by Ibiki, there was something else. Brown eyes met his with a hesitance he had never seen in them before and the hand on his chest had finally stilled its playing with his vest.

- "She did", Anko replied. "Lady Hokage ordered that we'd find and bring in the parents, to see if they could make their child talk."

Something in the air tensed at that, though Kakashi wasn't really sure what it was. A bad feeling was spreading in his stomach.

- "Parents live in Konoha?" he asked, silently.

Silently Anko nodded, her eyes locked to his. Kakashi struggled to form a coherent question, sensing that Anko wouldn't say anything more without some prodding.

- "Did you find them?"

- "Yes."

- "And?"

- "And I'm still waiting to see if he's going to throw me out for not telling him sooner."


	2. The build up

**Hi again! So, a lot of people had trouble viewing the first chapter. So despite it already having 2 reviews I deleted it and uploaded it again, and this time it seems people are able to view it. I don't know what the problem was but I hope it is solved now at least. Anyway, thank you for the great response to this story! I love you all! **

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Three years was a very long time. Much could change during that time; seasons went by, children were born, old people died, missions were carried out, people learned to leave the past behind them and go on. Maybe that was why Kakashi remained calm when Anko lead him towards the Hokage's office, where Lady Tsunade apparently wanted to talk to him.

A part of him wanted to go rampage, though he wasn't really sure why. Anger, because of how his daughter was treated and how he had not been notified, worry of her wellbeing, fear of what she had been through during these years, but most of all hurt because he didn't know what he had done wrong. Why had she chosen to leave like that? Without a word to anyone? Just a letter a few weeks later, with her headband and a note, saying that she wouldn't be back for some time.

At the same time Kakashi was also grateful that Anko was there, that she had been there for him during these three years. What had originally begun as a purely physical relationship had slowly developed into friendship. She had taught him not to think too much about things that worried him or made him sad, had shown him ways to distract himself. In return he had, without realizing it really, done the same to her.

When they entered the Hokage's office Kakashi could immediately tell that the Hokage was weary of how he would react to all of this. Kakashi made it a point to look as untroubled as ever, even stuffed his hands into his pockets.

- "So, what am I here for?" he asked, almost sounding like a child being brought to the principal's office.

Tsunade and Shisune exchanged a quick look, not unnoticed by Kakashi, before the Hokage stood up from the chair behind her desk.

- "You are here because I need to know if you are willing to take responsibility for your daughter", Tsunade told him.

Suddenly his throat felt dry. Why did she sound so serious? Things must be much worse than he had first thought, he concluded. Lady Hokage was not known for being serious with anything else than her fists.

- "Of course I am!" he answered her.

Silently Tsunade leaned on the front of her desk, her eyes meeting his single one seriously. He could hear Anko and Shisune leaving the room and closing the door behind them, to give the two some privacy when discussing this.

- "The situation is not an easy one. Your daughter was caught in the companionship if Uchiha Itachi. As far as we know she might have been with him all this time."

She paused, making sure that he understood her so far, before she continued again.

- "We do not know where her loyalty lies, if it is with us or with the Akatsuki. She may very well be the enemy now."

_My daughter is not the enemy! _Kakashi's mind screamed at him, though he remained silent. Three years was a very long time. A lot of things could change. He wasn't sure if he knew his own daughter anymore.

- "Our options are limited. We cannot trust her until she answers our questions. Inoichi can't do anything at this point, though how she manages to keep him out of her head is beyond me. Ibiki has other methods that might prove more successful."

Kakashi shuddered at that. The thought of Ibiki, the sadist, torturing his little girl was unbearable. Luckily the Hokage continued quickly, not giving Kakashi too much time to form those pictures in his head.

- "I do not wish to be remembered as the Hokage who tortured children. That's where you come in, Kakashi. So when I am asking you if you are ready to take responsibility for your daughter, what I really mean is if you are willing to let a potential enemy into your home and watch over her to make sure that she is of no threat to the village. Ok?"

Swallowing, suddenly very nervous, Kakashi nodded. He wasn't sure that he would be able to form words right now. The only thing he was aware of was the fact that the picture he had of his little baby girl did not go along with the one of an enemy of the village. Why would she spend three years with Itachi, of all people? He was a ruthless killer, a madman, and she was… Memories of her as a laughing little child flashed through his head. Rieka was no longer that little girl. He wasn't sure who she was anymore.

- "Good", Tsunade spoke. "Then come along!"

Quickly she left the office, leaving Kakashi to hurry along as best as he could in his still somewhat shocked state. Through the corridors, out of the Hokage building and towards the headquarter of Konoha's torture and interrogation force. Anko and Shizune hurried along.

- "Despite your willingness to take responsibility for her I will need to take further precautions before I let her out in the village", Tsunade spoke as she walked. "I'll seal her chakra away, using a sealing technique that I've been working on for a while. She won't be able to use any chakra without me allowing it.

While a part of Kakashi wanted to object to this another part understood the reasoning and even acknowledged that he probably would have done the same had he been in the Hokage's shoes. Before he'd made up his mind of how to respond to that they had reached the building that held the headquarter and Yamanaka Inoichi met them to lead them through the corridors.

- "She hasn't said a word", Inoichi explained. "It's like she's mute, she absolutely refuses to answer any questions."

- "Why's that?" Kakashi asked, worried that she might be hurt.

Inoichi glanced at him and Kakashi could see the pity in the other man's eyes. Inoichi had a daughter himself, only a few years older than Rieka.

- "It's something Ibiki taught her back when she used to train with us", Inoichi explained. "If you do not say anything at all there is no risk that you will accidentally give away information. Seems rather ironic that everything we taught her she is now using against us."

*flashback*

Laughter filled the usually silent corridors of the headquarter. Inoichi and Ibiki were sitting down by the table, eating their lunches. A five year old Rieka had already finished her meal and was now busy going through Ibiki's weapon pouch.

- "What does this one do?" she asked, holding up a scroll for them to see.

- "That one I use to summon my torture chamber", Ibiki answered, seemingly undisturbed by the fact that a child was going through his things.

Rieka laughed at that, though neither man understood what she was laughing at.

- "Do you use it often?"

The two adults shared a look over the table, silently agreeing that they would not tell the child any details of how often or even how the torture chamber was used. That could not be why the Hokage had ordered them to teach this girl.

- "Only when people don't answer my questions", Ibiki finally replied.

- "How do you do to find out people's secrets? They don't want to tell you, do they?"

Another look was shared between the two adults. This time Rieka seemed to notice as she put the scrolls aside and climbed on the closest chair so that she could look closer at them. Her expectant eyes seemed piercing, glowing with innocent curiosity that just seemed plain wrong in the halls that would occasionally be filled with screams of people wishing to die rather than undergoing another moment of Ibiki's torture.

- "Well," Ibiki began, putting his chopsticks aside. "First I ask them directly to tell me what they know. Sometimes that is enough, sometimes it is not."

- "What do you do when it is not?"

- "Then I ask them other questions. Questions that does not seem as important, that they feel they can answer. I'll get them talking and then when they least expect it I'll ask them an important question again. By then they are so relaxed they do not realize what they are doing until it is too late and they have already told me what I want to know."

That was a very kind way of describing Ibiki's habit of staring at his victim for minutes and minutes with a look in his eyes as if he was trying to decide which way would be the most painful possibly to kill the person, and then start asking questions in a tone so scary that sometimes the victims peed themselves. Inoichi smiled, finding it funny to see this softer side of his colleague.

- "Is it really that simple?" Rieka wondered.

- "Yes."

Silence fell in the room and Ibiki once again picked up his chopsticks.

- "Do people always tell you their secrets when you do that?"

A look. Shared memories of screams of horror and agony from the torture chamber.

- "Yes", Ibiki repeated.

- "How do I do if I've got secrets I don't want anyone to find out?"

Something that was almost a smile crossed Ibiki's face as he looked at the girl.

- "Good question", he said, pointing at her with his chopsticks. "If you do not want others to find out about your secrets, then you don't talk at all. If you don't say a word then you won't say anything that could reveal your secrets, not even by accident."

She seemed to consider this and then nodded. It made sense. Then she abruptly turned to Inoichi.

- "You then, what do you do?"

Smiling Inoichi swallowed his food before he answered her question.

- "I check that what people say is the truth. Sometimes they might lie about their secrets. That's why I have to read their minds to make sure that they are not."

- "Why don't you just read their minds immediately then, instead of having them to lie?"

Putting his chopsticks down Inoichi turned in his chair so that he was focused fully on Rieka.

- "Well, what I do is more dangerous. When I read another person's mind I cannot defend myself if I were to be attacked. And also, sometimes a person will expect me to read their minds and have traps waiting for me. So it is a lot simpler to have Ibiki question them because when they have already revealed their secrets they won't try as hard to hide them from me."

Obviously not fully understanding it Rieka still nodded. Inoichi, knowing how girls in that age worked, did not pick up his chopsticks again. Instead he waited patiently and sure enough, not even a minute later the next question came.

- "So people can actually hide their secrets from you? How do they do that?"

- "Normally they can't. You see, I've got a kekkei genkai that makes it easier for me to read people's mind. They try to hide their secrets from me but they can't, it's just a matter of time before I find them."

- "But how do they do it?"

He had to think a moment about that, on how to explain it to her so that she would understand. Being who he was he knew how to break through those defenses but he wasn't really sure how people _did _it.

- "Well, they may create a wall in their mind by focusing really hard and using their chakra to close me out. Or they may just try to focus on other things, that aren't as important, hoping that I will get distracted by that."

- "Cool."

No more questions seemed to be coming, so Inoichi picked his chopsticks up again to finish his meal. Rieka sat at the table, seeming to think deeply about what she had just been told.

- "Could you teach me?" she asked several minutes later.

The question was somewhat unexpected. Inoichi didn't know what to say. He exchanged a quick look with Ibiki but the other man didn't seem to know what to say either.

- "I'm not sure. I usually read peoples mind, I don't really know how to defend them."

- "You're supposed to teach me stuff, right? The Hokage said so himself!"

Helplessly he glanced over at Ibiki, who was suddenly very busy finishing off his lunch.

- "I… guess I could try to read your mind and tell you what to do to keep me out. Though I'm not sure that it's going to work."

- "Yay! Thanks!"

Her joy seemed to bounce off the walls of this gloomy place that usually only saw seriousness and suffering. Neither of the adults were really used to seeing it like that.

*end of flashback*

Smiling sadly at the memory Ibiki came to a halt in front of one of the solid metal doors that lined the hall. Already the same day he had started to try to train Rieka, penetrating her mind, trying to leave her some privacy at the same time as he tried to make her aware of his presence and show her how to block him out. It had been completely new to him. Though with the rate Rieka seemed to learn nobody would have been able to tell. It had taken her three months before she knew how to hide her thoughts from him. Unlike most people she did not try to form a solid wall to close him out. She focused on shadows, on mist and brushwood until he felt like he really was lost in a forest of nothingness inside her head, knowing the way out but not the way through. And now she was using that against him, for real, knowing the consequences of it.

- "Ok, she's in here", he told the others. "But I warn you, she is not… like she used to be."

He unlocked the door and then paused with his hand on the handle, hesitating. Taking a deep breath, feeling sorry for Kakashi, he opened the door.


	3. A new enemy?

**Hi again! Sorry for the delay in updating, something happened and I had to deal with some personal things. To make it up for you I made a long chapter for you, which I hope you'll enjoy! **

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Kakashi had steeled himself for this. He really had tried, like he would steel himself whenever he heard that a mission had failed because he knew that it could very well mean that a comrade had died. Yet it felt like he'd just been hit in the stomach, hard, and he seemed unable to remember how to breathe.

The room was rather small. Four stone walls without any decorations or even a window to let in some light. In the middle of this stood a table with a chair on either side of it and above it all a single lamp hung from the roof, spreading its sharp light over the two people sitting by the table while creating shadows in the corners. It was the two people sitting by the table that had rendered Kakashi to this shocked state.

Ibiki, sitting so that he was facing the wall closest to the door, was looking just as sour as ever. Opposite of him, with their side towards the door, face slightly hidden from view by bangs of brown hair, was another figure. The chair seemed so much bigger than the one Ibiki was sitting in, and the figure in it almost ridiculously small. Hands lay neatly folded in the lap, head tipped forward, unmoving. This was what greeted the group as Inoichi opened the door and allowed them to enter.

For a moment time almost seemed to stop as Kakashi took in the picture. Though he wasn't really sure what he had expected it was not something like this. The figure in front of him was dressed in dark grey, baggy pants and a t-shirt in lighter grey. Obviously the hair had grown longer and it did no longer remind him of her mother. No, instead the hair had been gathered in a simple, low ponytail in very much the same fashion as Uchiha Itachi himself.

- "Rieka", he breathed out.

A slight tensioning of the shoulders was the only sign that she had heard him. That hurt, he realized. His baby girl wasn't even glad to see him after all this time.

In the silence that followed everyone seemed to wait for something to happen. Everyone's eyes rested upon Rieka as if afraid that they would miss something if they looked away for even a moment. If so they were disappointed because as the minutes ticked by she didn't move. Not even a twitch. They could hardly even tell that she was still breathing.

- "Well, this was anticlimactic", Anko finally spoke from somewhere behind Kakashi.

That seemed to spur everyone into action as Tsunade promptly stepped further into the room and Ibiki rose to greet her. Meanwhile Inoichi had stepped up closer to Rieka, leaving Anko and Shizune by the door and Kakashi still frozen in place just a few steps in.

- "You know the drill kid", Tsunade spoke, turned to Rieka. "If there's anything you wish to say now is the time to say it."

She paused a moment to allow the girl to answer, which she did not.

- "Ok then", Tsunade sighed. "I'll seal your chakra then before we let you leave with daddy."

After a nod towards Inoichi the man gently tugged on Rieka's arm, urging her to stand up. She complied, slowly and apathetically. Ibiki grabbed her other arm and they all turned to the Hokage. Lady Tsunade had raised her hands and began forming signs with them, quickly and precisely.

Kakashi had wanted to interrupt what was going on until he caught a glimpse of his daughter's face. Her eyes were empty, her skin unnaturally pale after what must have been days as a captive and her whole body screamed of apathy. _She looks dead_, he thought with horror.

Ibiki and Inoichi looked awfully huge beside her as their hands gripped her arms firmly, preventing any plans of escape she might have had. But Rieka did not try to fight or run. What she did was worse. She just stood there, eyes tiredly glancing up at Tsunade, while the Hokage formed the advanced hand signs and then slapped her right hand onto her forehead.

As a wave of chakra hit them all a silent gasp escaped Rieka but that was it. Moments later Tsunade pulled her hand away. On Rieka's forehead was now a seal, shaped like the leaf symbol, glowing slightly but fading as her chakra was sealed away. A matching one could be seen on Tsunade's palm.

When the seal stopped glowing and turned the color of ink Rieka's eyes fell closed and she hung limply from the hands of Ibiki and Inoichi.

- "She's just unconscious", Tsunade explained before Kakashi could ask. "It's a rather natural reaction from getting your chakra sealed."

- "Normal?" Kakashi repeated, voice suddenly several octaves too high.

Upset as he was about what had just happened he could not find any words to describe it. He would like to say "impossible" but clearly that was not the case.

As if reading his mind Shizune spoke up, taking opportunity to explain.

- "It's a rather new technique that Tsunade-sama has been working on. It's not perfect yet, the seal can be broken, but should be enough to make it impossible for her to use her chakra. In other words; no jutsus and less of a threat to the villagers."

Ibiki pulled Rieka up and into his arms so that she was resting with her back on one of his arms and her knees of the other, head resting on his shoulder. Again she looked so very small and fragile compared to his much larger frame.

- "A threat? You consider that," Kakashi pointed at Rieka, "a threat to the village?"

- "We don't know where her loyalty lies. Clearly it is not with us or she wouldn't refuse interrogation. For all we know she might be as crazy as Uchiha Itachi!" Tsunade said.

- "She's just a child! Thirteen years old!"

- "Which also happens to be the same age of which Itachi was when he slaughtered his entire clan!"

Silently Kakashi glared at his Hokage, refusing to see the logic in what she was saying. Tsunade met his eyes, challenging. He was once again reminded of how strong the woman in front of him was. She was one of the three legendary sannin, with a ridiculously strong fist that could undoubtedly crush bones or even stone.

He was the first one to look away, admitting to the instincts that told him not to go against this woman if he wanted to live. The result of a life as a ninja. Instead he turned to Ibiki, holding out his arms to take his daughter. Seemingly reluctant Ibiki handed her over to him and she came to rest pressed tightly to his chest.

- "May I take her home now?" he asked, somewhat bitterly.

- "You may."

Shoulders stiff with withheld emotions Kakashi left the room and found his way through the corridors. This was not how he had imagined things when he had dreamed of his daughter returning back to the village. More like a nightmare, though they had never been this detailed. His daughter, a companion of Uchiha Itachi. It didn't even make sense! Itachi was crazy, a madman and a murderer who felt no remorse for his crimes. Rieka was… nothing like that. Or was she? Could she have changed that much over these three years?

Glancing down at the unconscious body in his arms Kakashi felt his belief strengthened. No, his daughter was not an enemy of the village. He might not understand why she was acting the way she was but she wouldn't betray Konoha. His arms strengthened around her protectively. _I'll take care of you baby, _he swore silently. After all, that was what fathers were for, wasn't it? Considering what a crappy father he'd been so far the least he could do was to believe in her when no one else would, wasn't it?

He took her to her old room, which had remained the way it had always been through these three years. Kakashi had made sure to keep it clean of dust and spider web but apart from that he hadn't done anything in there. Now the room seemed to tease him about how much that had changed while the room itself hadn't changed at all.

As he put her down on the bed he noticed that it was getting short. Three years ago it had fit a ten year old Rieka perfectly, now it was so short her feet were sticking out at the end. _Another sign of how much she has changed, _he thought as he pulled off her shoes and then pulled the blanket up to cover her. He had no idea how long she would stay unconscious but judging from how tired she had looked before it could be for a while.

Meanwhile Kakashi would go downstairs and prepare some disgustingly sweet food that he knew Rieka used to love when she was younger. Anything to make her feel more welcome back home, to show how much he had missed her and, hopefully, convince her to never do anything like that again.

Despite the circumstances he felt happy. Why wouldn't he? His daughter was finally home. He even found himself humming and turned on the radio, continuing to hum along with the songs as he prepared the meal. Right then he didn't think there was anything that could ruin his mood.

Upstairs Rieka was slowly waking up. She could hear the music from downstairs and for a moment she wondered where it came from. Where was she anyway? During the last three years there had been very little of music or anything else fun. Then the memories returned to her.

She, Itachi-sensei and Kisame-san had been traveling, as they usually were, when they had come across the ANBU. It hadn't been their purpose to fight Konoha so they had just fought enough to get away from there. Sensei was funny like that, how he always tried not to get into unnecessary fights. Not that she couldn't understand him. So they had run, and then fought and run again. And somewhere in the middle of it she had felt someone hit her in the back of her head, causing her to lose consciousness.

During the long days in the cell that was what occupied her mind the most, apart from the guilt she felt for leaving Konoha like she had. She may not be very old yet, 13 years of age, but she had learned a few things during her time with Itachi-sensei. Therefore she was positive that no ANBU agent had been close enough to her to deal out that blow. Kisame-san had been too far away as well, happily swinging his sword around. So that left Itachi-sensei, who she knew had been close enough to deal out such a blow. Theoretically, at least. What she didn't understand was why he would do such a thing.

Her eyelids slowly opened and she looked around the semi-familiar space that was her old room. Nothing seemed to have changed. The toys were still on their shelves, the same posters hung on the walls. It smelled fresh, as if someone had taken care to clean it and let in fresh air regularly, and not just let it stand. _Father… _she thought, with a tug of guilt.

Though her body felt heavy she managed to sit up. She had a headache, like something was straining behind her eyes. The sealing jutsu, she concluded. It must be a result from having her chakra sealed away. Her hand came up to touch her forehead, gently touching it as if she was afraid to find it sore. She needn't have worried. Apart from a slightly rough trail that probably formed a visible seal there was nothing wrong with her forehead.

Curiously she got up, heading towards the mirror. It hung so low on the wall that she had to bend down slightly to see herself in it, making her wonder exactly how much she had grown these last years?

The first thing she noticed was the leaf symbol on her forehead. Immediately she hated it. The place as well as the symbol itself only served to remind her of what she had chosen to leave behind. Everything that the leaf symbol symbolized was not hers anymore, that's why she had sent back her headband rather than keeping it. She'd made her choice and wanted to cut all the bonds with her old life, and now this symbol had been placed upon her against her will. _Guess I can't turn back now_.

Suddenly there were arms wrapping around her, one hand effectively pinning her arms to her waist while the other placed itself over her mouth, silencing her screams. Two fingers were under her chin, making it impossible to bite the hand in question. Though Rieka had learned a trick or two from Itachi-sensei over the years, this time she was chanceless. She was weakened from the earlier sealing jutsu, whomever her attacker was they had the element of surprise at their hand and they were also bigger than her, easily lifting her in the air and turning around.

There were two other men, apart from the one holding her. One of them, the one standing closest to her with the posture of a leader, had a cloak swept around him, his left arm hidden under it and the right one now quickly forming seals for a jutsu she could not identify.

Rieka had never met this man before. Despite this she knew immediately who he was. The man she had come to hate, who symbolized the dark and selfish side of Konoha; her stomach felt like it was on fire, so strong was the hatred burning for him within her. Just the thought of what he had made a thirteen year old boy do to his own clan made her want to cry, despite her sensei's calming words.

The third man, the one who had been standing in the background until now, stepped forward and quickly grabbed her chin, forcing her jaws open. Before she could scream fingers were pressed into her mouth, far back until she choked on them. The one eye of that evil, evil man met hers as a burning pain shot out from the spot where his fingers touched the back of her tongue. A gurgling sound was all she could manage, with her mouth full of his fist, and her eyes rolled backwards in pain.

Tsunade's sealing jutsu had felt strangling, like it was wrapping itself around her body and hugging her a little too tightly, constricting her. For a moment it had been hard to breathe as her chakra adjusted to the seal, disturbing its natural flow throughout her body. This jutsu was something entirely different. Pure pain shot through her skull, almost making it feel like her tongue would fall off any moment, and a headache worse than anything else she had ever experienced. This wasn't at all like Tsunade's sealing, this was like being nailed to the floor by a thousand thin needles, excruciatingly painful.

- "This should make sure that no secrets will leak out of your mouth", she heard the man mutter as he removed his fingers from her mouth.

She should have screamed then. For a moment there was nothing stopping her from doing so; one hand keeping her jaw open, another tugging at her hair while a third still kept her hands at her waist. But she felt weak, drained of all of her energy. The edges of her vision were blurry and her knees felt like they would give in under her.

Someone placed her on the bed, even pulled up the cover over her. Then they were gone, closing the window through which they had entered behind them. No sign of them being there could be seen and Rieka once again felt herself fall into darkness.

Downstairs Kakashi paused in his cooking for a moment, his instincts warning him that something was wrong though he couldn't detect anything. Worriedly he dried his hands on the kitchen towel before he went up to check on his daughter. He found her in her bed, breathing silently. She had turned slightly in her sleep, which he supposed was a good sign. If she was not as much unconscious as she was sleeping than there could be nothing terribly wrong with her.

Thinking that he must be more on edges than usual because of her presence he returned downstairs to make sure that nothing burned on the stove. There was nothing wrong with his daughter, he was just excited to have her back, that's all.


	4. An awkward reunion

**Hi people! Sorry for taking so long to update again, I've been really busy and I'm never going to complain about my high school teachers again because suddenly the workload I used to get of them seem easy... Anyway, this chapter is not that exciting but it will lead up to some of the more important things that I have planned, ok? **

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Rieka slept peacefully the whole evening and night. Kakashi came to check on her a few times and finally he fell asleep on the sofa in the living room, where he'd been reading a book while waiting to see if his daughter would wake up that evening.

He was awoken by the sunlight shining in through the window. Tiredly he stretched his arms and legs, groaning as it hurt. _I'm too old to sleep on the sofa like this, _he thought, smiling behind the mask as he remembered the reason to why he did sleep where he did. His daughter was back. His baby girl. Back home, sleeping in her room.

And it was morning. And today he'd finally get a chance to talk to her. She should wake up soon, shouldn't she? Suddenly feeling light and happy he quickly made his way to the kitchen, preparing some coffee for himself. _Should I go up and wake her up? _He wondered, childishly eager to do so. _Or would that be too much? Maybe she's tired. Tsunade-sama's jutsu must have taken a toll on her. Plus that I don't know what she's been through before that. I should probably let her sleep in, at least for a while. But if she takes too long I'll storm in on her room and wake her up and tell her how much I've missed her and… _

Suddenly she was there, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Her hair was a bit messy and the eyes were tired but she was there. He couldn't help but smile and moved to hug her. She didn't stop him, though she did nothing to hug him back either. When he finally let her go she just stood there, unmoving, as if waiting for something to happen.

- "Please, sit down and I'll get you some breakfast honey," he told her.

From the corner of his eye he watched her slowly get to the table and sit down on a chair while he quickly picked out some breakfast food and place it in front of her on the table. She didn't look at him, not once. When she moved it was stiffly, controlled, as if she was holding something back. Her shoulders were slightly slouched, head bowed as she looked down at the table instead of looking at him. He wondered what had happened to her during these past three years.

- "Here you go", he said, placing a few sandwiches, cereals, milk and some fruit before her.

Eagerly he sat down opposite to her, smutting on the coffee as he waited for her to eat. A minute or so later she slowly picked up one of the sandwiches and took a small bite from it. He watched her chew on it slowly, her eyes still locked on the table rather than him.

- "I've missed you, you know," he said, conversationally.

She swallowed and took another bite, equally small. No response. He felt like a kid on Christmas, just waiting for the moment when it would be ok to open the presents. This present, however, would probably prove harder to open than most.

As they sat there in silence, Kakashi unsure of what to say and Rieka silently eating her sandwich, Kakashi noticed that she was still wearing the same clothes as earlier. The grey pants and t-shirt. For a moment he wondered why she hadn't changed to something else. Then he realized that her wardrobe was full of clothes that had fit her three years ago but probably were several sizes too small by now.

- "I should take you shopping later," he stated. "Get you a few new sets of clothes. Maybe a haircut too, if you'd like?"

Still no answer. The silence was becoming awkward. Was he saying the right things? He had thought that they would be able to talk to each other about what had happened and that he would be able to make her trust him again. But now it seemed like he was just failing miserably. The girl sitting in front of him was a stranger, one that wouldn't even talk to him.

He didn't know how to handle the situation. There was little in his past that would have prepared him for this, he thought. He had never really known his mother and his father had chosen suicide rather than to live with himself, even if it meant abandoning his son. Though Kakashi had loved his father, deeply so, he realized that they hadn't had a very good relationship. Otherwise Sakumo would have talked to his son instead of distancing himself from everyone, including Kakashi.

Even back three years ago he hadn't been able to handle the situation well. He realized that he had come to hate this… whatever to call what was going on in between them. She had been his baby girl and then she had not been, and then they had been on the team together and started to bond again. It seemed like they kept to the pattern of growing close and then growing an ocean of distance in between them, becoming strangers to each other. As much as he wished to Kakashi hadn't been able to cover that ocean in years.

_Things used to be much easier, _he thought regretfully. _Back when she was little I could just wrap her up in a hug and she would tell me what was wrong. I understood her, somewhat at least. But now… _Though they were sitting just opposite of the same table the distance in between them seemed so great that even attempting something as a hug seemed ridiculous. _I won't give up! _he swore silently, fighting down the emotions stirred within him at seeing his own daughter like this.

- "Listen, I… I don't know why you left or why you won't talk to anyone, and I know that I haven't been the very best father at times, but I was hoping that we could try and… make things better between the two of us. Would you like that, honey?"

Swallow. Another bite. She had finished about half the sandwich by now, slowly and methodically. Not once had she looked up at him. It was starting to get on his nerves. What more could he possibly do?

- "Oh, I'm sorry! Did I walk in on an awkward father-daughter moment here?"

Anko's voice sounded very loud in the otherwise silent kitchen. Kakashi glanced over at her where she was, standing in the doorway where Rieka had been earlier. She didn't look very sorry. Then again, that was just how she was. Never one to be sorry or beat around the bush. Though it had served as a comfort to Kakashi before, right now he wasn't quite sure that he wanted her there.

- "Hi there kiddo!"

The short greeting was thrown at Rieka as she entered the kitchen, bent down and promptly kissed Kakashi on the mouth. Taken by surprise he took a moment to react, habit telling him to kiss back while his mind told him that now was not the time for make out parties in front of his daughter.

Totally oblivious to Kakashi's lack of response Anko merely deepened the kiss, easily slipping in between him and the table so that she was sitting in his lap, straddling him. They'd been sitting like that often enough through the past years and more often than not ended up in the bedroom. However this time he managed to pull away and thankfully Anko seemed to get the hind. Instead she repositioned herself so that she sat with her back towards Kakashi's chest, facing Rieka.

She smiled, which would have been taken as a kind characteristic had she been anyone else but since it was her it made the alarms in Kakashi sound. Anko didn't smile often and when she did it was with sadistic pleasure. Before he could intervene she had opened her mouth and spoke.

- "I didn't get a chance to talk to you much earlier, since Morino and Yamanaka did most of the work concerning you. My name's Anko", she introduced herself to Rieka. "I'm the one who's been fucking your dad during these three years you've been away."

Normally Kakashi was a calm and collected man. Not much could face him really, he'd seen enough for several lifetimes during his years as a ninja. Sitting there, in his own kitchen, and hearing Anko announce to his daughter what they had been doing, he felt nothing like that calm man he usually was. If there was one thing he did not need it was to have his sex-life discussed with his daughter!

Thanks to the mask the blush wasn't noticeable. Instead he glared at Anko, angry at her for acting this way. He knew her better than most men and knew that she wasn't usually like this. Plump yes, but not quite to this degree, unless it was serving her purposes. But she seemed not to notice his glare, instead smiling happily to his daughter.

Rieka had looked up at this announcement, her eyes seemingly piercing the other woman. The sandwich had stopped halfway to her mouth and she stared at them both in shock. Kakashi didn't blame her. He himself would have probably reacted in a similar way of having his father's sex-life brought to attention like that.

With slow, precise movements the sandwich was placed back on the table and Rieka stood up. She gave Anko one, quick look before she promptly left the room, leaving the two adults behind. Kakashi looked after her, torn between wanting to yell at Anko and try to make things good again between him and his daughter. Not that the relationship between them had been good before but Anko had certainly not made anything better.

- "What did you do that for?" he finally asked.

- "What? Did I do anything wrong?" she asked, mockingly, as she placed her arms around his shoulders.

Her lips were warm and hypnotizing against his but for once he pulled away to look her in the eyes, seriously.

- "You did that on purpose" he pointed out.

- "Yes", she admitted, her lips brushing against his.

- "Why?"

Her smile could be felt against his lips but he pulled away again.

- "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing" she assured him before leaning in for another kiss.

For a moment he forgot about his anger and that he really shouldn't be kissing her right then and there. When he did remember he pulled away again, pushing Anko off his lap and standing up to clean the table up. He didn't have any appetite anymore anyway, and he doubted Rieka had any either.

- "What are you going to do today?" Anko asked happily.

- "I'm taking her shopping", he muttered.

- "Oh, great! I'm in! When are we leaving?"

Kakashi stopped at that, long enough to make one important decision. He put away the butter and then grabbed Anko by the arm, leading her towards the door.

- "You're not coming with us" he said. "Now I'm sure you've got better things to do than to stay here."

With those words he pushed her out and closed the door in between then before she could protest. Yes, he would most likely regret doing this later on and yes, he was probably mad angering a kunoichi, especially this particular one, but at the moment he didn't care.

Two hours after the scene with Anko the two Hatakes had emerged from their rooms, glancing awkwardly at each other and trying to pretend like it had never happened.

Kakashi was more embarrassed than he would like to admit by Anko's proclamation and he didn't even want to think about how Rieka must be feeling. He could still remember that afternoon, sometime after his father had died, that Minato-sensei decided that it was time that he and Kakashi had a _talk. _All of those questions Kakashi had never asked and never wanted to know the answer of were answered then and afterwards he'd felt like he was going to be sick. Even after all those years he couldn't help but shudder at the memory. So yes, Kakashi somewhat understood what his daughter was feeling.

They left the house together, in a silence that was neither friendly nor really awkward. Neither of them wished to talk about what had just happened so the silence suited them perfectly. But Kakashi couldn't help but glance at his daughter every once in a while, noticing that the bangs had been combed so that they mostly covered the leaf symbol on her forehead. Though she didn't look up at him once he could tell that her facial expression was a mask of emotionlessness, not giving off any of her thoughts or reactions to the other villagers and what was going on around them.

Making their way through the mass of villagers and shinobi Kakashi couldn't help but remember the old times. Himself at sixteen years of age, desperately looking for a shop that was still open and sold diapers, because he'd forgotten to buy those earlier and now they were out of them. A two year old Rieka insisting that she could and would walk by herself and not get carried by her dad, only to get lost in the crown within five minutes. Not to mention the scolding she had given him once he finally found her. He couldn't help but smile at the memories.

When they reached the shop they went in different directions to look for fitting outfits. The store was popular among shinobi who wanted something more fashionable than the standard uniform without sacrificing the mobility needed for combat. Naturally Kakashi wasn't one of those shinobi, he was very much happy wearing the regular uniform, but he knew that this was where most shinobi bought their clothes.

Possibly still affected by the memories of the old times Kakashi found himself drawn to the children's section, where numerous outfits in garish colors that almost hurt in his eyes were on display. Once those had been everything his daughter wished for and that he would not give her – he would keep some dignity and would not be seen with someone wearing pink dress with a kunai pattern in lighter pink!

Glancing over at his daughter Kakashi saw her looking at a pair of black pants, the total opposite of what she once used to want to wear. A weird feeling spread in his chest, something in between sadness and… could he call it proudness? His daughter was growing up, maturing; changing her style from the childish clothes she once used to wear to something much more practical and less eye catching.

- "Can I help you with something?" a sales woman asked, coming up to him and smiling politely.

- "My daughter needs some new clothes," he explained, gesturing towards Rieka who had now put away the pants and were looking at something else.

The smile of the sales woman widened considerably and she approached Rieka, apparently hoping to get a great deal out of a teenage girl shopping for new clothes. For a moment Kakashi could feel his wallet aching. For what he knew about teenage girls, providing a whole new wardrobe all in once could be ridiculously expensive.

If it was because she sensed his sudden distress or because of the change in her personality Kakashi didn't know, but Rieka completely ignored the smiling sales woman and her eager attempts to be of help. Half an hour later they left the shop while the sales woman glared daggers after them. In the end Rieka had decided upon clothes that looked quite a lot like those she was already wearing, only in black and not grey. Not even Kakashi's wallet complained, though the sales woman did not look too happy about it.

- "Do you need something else?" Kakashi asked. "Just lead the way and I'll follow."

For a moment they just stood there in the middle of the street, Kakashi eying his daughter to see if she needed something else or if they should head back home. Rieka seemed to hesitate and then she slowly made her way through further up ahead the shopping district. Kakashi, secretly relieved that at least she would do that much, smiled behind his mask and followed her.

To Kakashi's horror they ended up in a shop that sold women's underwear. Logically he realized that his daughter would need these too, but as he found himself standing between a shelf of sexy lingerie and a doll displaying said lingerie he found himself grateful that he wore his mask. Sometime he might take Anko here, if he could be sure that she wouldn't take it the wrong way, but being there with his daughter just felt plain awkward.

Thankfully Rieka finished quickly and they left within ten minutes. Kakashi signed in relief, thankful that the torture seemed to be over finally. Thought their shopping had gone buy surprisingly quick it still had brought on a ton of memories and had taken its toll emotionally on Kakashi. Right now he just wanted to go back home with his daughter, maybe figure out a way to do some bonding or, if that didn't work, push himself through a training routine that would make Gai proud and then lose himself in a volume of Icha Icha. Sadly it seemed fate wasn't so kind.

As they made their way back home they met someone. This someone had yet to hear the news of Rieka's return and therefore he was, understandably, quite shocked when he saw with whom Kakashi was walking. So shocked in fact that he had to stop and stare at the two, mouth slightly agape, in a not very dignified way. It took him a moment or two to confirm that it really was Rieka, that she was back in the village and, as it seemed, unharmed.

- "Hey, Hatake!" he called out after the two.

Kakashi badly wanted to ignore the voice calling out to him, he really did. But if he had learned something during these past years it was that he could not avoid problems forever. He would just have to grab on to it and make the best of it. Therefore he stopped and turned around to face the man.

- "Hyuga," he greeted him.

- "Hatake," Hiashi returned. "Rieka-chan."

A moment of silence, where Rieka was supposed to greet her uncle back, followed. When no answer came Hiashi gave Kakashi a questioning look, to which Kakashi replied with a shrug. He wasn't too sure himself of what was going on but it seemed like Rieka would remain quiet until she chose to speak.

- "I didn't know you were back," Hiashi continued, trying to act as if nothing was wrong. "When did you return?"

- "It's a long story," Kakashi replied, unwilling to tell the whole story here on the street.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow at this but seemed otherwise unaffected by Kakashi's cold and tired tone.

- "Maybe we should take it somewhere else then?" he suggested. "Dinner, maybe? My house of course. 7 pm?"

Kakashi growled low in his throat. He never had liked the Hyuga and not even the past three years could change that. When the other man made a suggestion like that, a suggestion that was obviously an order, it made him want to bury his fist in that dignified face! He held back the urge to do so and instead he just nodded quietly, showing his anger with an angry look that didn't affect the Hyuga in the least.

- "Great!" Hiashi smiled. "I see you both then!"

They parted, Kakashi and Rieka continuing on their way back home and Hiashi continuing on with what he was doing.


	5. Hiashi Hyuga

**Sorry for taking so long again! There's exams and my new obsession with Harry Potter and I'm so looking forward to going home again by the end of this month! **

**Anyway, for those of you who like seeing Kakashi with a kid... would you like seeing Kakashi _as_ a kid? Try out my one-shot series "Kid-shinobi-genius"! And for Harry Potter fans, you might want to check out "The drunken confessions of Professor Dumbledore". **

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The Hyuga-clan was reforming, Hiashi thought as he left after a meeting with his father. Even he was changing. A couple of years ago this meeting would have ended totally different from what it had today. But as mentioned, things were changing.

They had discussed the return of Rieka. Hiashi had seen it as his obligation to inform his father that his granddaughter was back in the village. It had been a well-meaning act; he'd thought his father might want to know. But as the words left his mouth and he saw the greedy look in his father's eyes he had known that it had been a mistake. The Hyuga elder had immediately started to plot to regain control over those eyes of which they had only seen glimpses three years ago. Hiashi had been disgusted.

Rationally he still understood his father. After all, he'd been brought up to be his heir, to continue on to rule the clan in the same way his father had. What he did not understand was how his father could be so oblivious to the effect his plotting would have on the people involved. Hiashi had been the same, once. Until his twin-brother had to die as a part of those plots. Then something within Hiashi had started to change, slowly. And that change had only intensified when his nephew participated in the chuunin exams three years ago.

Now Hiashi could see how damaged the children of the Hyuga really were. It hurt to think of how much responsibility he held for it all but at least he had tried to make up for it lately. The previously ignored Neji of the branch house had been tutored by the clan leader Hiashi himself, allowing the boy to reach his potential. It had been good for the boy to have someone of his own kind to teach him his clan's techniques, Hiashi could tell. Not that he hadn't been strong on his own but with good teacher the boy's potential was practically endless.

His daughters had been another matter. It had been hard for Hiashi to accept that he'd been treating his daughters wrongly, but he had had little choice. It had taken time and it had been harder than it had been with Neji. However one day Hiashi had taken his eldest daughter aside and offered to train her like he did with her cousin and younger sister. Hinata had smiled at him, that somewhat sad smile that reminded him of her mother, and politely said no. Two months later she had made it to chuunin, with her own style of fighting. Hiashi had been proud beyond words.

Hanabi had been the hardest case, because for a long time Hiashi couldn't really decide if he had done anything wrong with her or not. He'd kept a watchful eye on her for a long time, looking for signs of damage. She was the heir, his most prized daughter; her position was high above most others of the clan despite her young age. He couldn't have done anything wrong with her, could he? But slowly he realized that he had.

Even Hanabi carried the traces of a damaged child. Unlike her elder sister and cousin she had been the center of his attention for most of her life. But he could see her growing restless; saw the tension with which she carried herself all the time. She had grown distanced to those around her, her family and clan as well as her classmates at the academy.

When Hinata had made it to chuunin Hiashi had caught Hanabi looking at her sister with an expression he never wanted to see on one of his children again. Rivalry. Hatred, fear and then something vulnerable had flashed across her face. Hiashi had given it a great deal of thought before he realized what was wrong. With Hinata he had made the mistake of pushing her aside and ignoring her. With Hanabi he'd made the opposite. His youngest daughter had been given all of his attention and she had never learnt to stand on her own. He realized that his youngest lived with the fear that she would be pushed aside like her sister if she wasn't good enough.

Once he had realized this Hiashi had decided to take his daughter aside to talk to her. They had spent a whole afternoon together, just the two of them, talking things through. It had been awkward and a bit embarrassing to them both but at the end of it they had both been relieved. And Hiashi had spent the next couple of months encouraging his daughter and proving that he wouldn't push her aside, no matter what.

So yes, the Hyuga-clan was reforming. Slowly but steadily it was happening. The damaged children of the clan were in the lead of this change and he, Hiashi, was only too glad to be a part of this change. He didn't want to see anymore damaged children. Not ever again. He'd thought he'd seen enough of them, until he'd met his niece again.

Three years, he pondered. That was a long time. A lot could change in that time. For example the child that had so rudely dismissed him and the Hyuga-elder, the same child that had worked so incredibly hard when he trained her, had become a silent shadow of her old self. It hadn't taken Hiashi long to recognize the signs of damage. The posture that practically screamed out for other to keep away, the hunched shoulders and lowered eyes that spoke of insecurity bordering on the line of shame of her very existence, all of it was easily recognizable. He wondered how Kakashi was coping with it.

When he returned home he was met with the smell of his eldest daughters cooking. He smiled, again thinking about how happy he was to have daughters as wonderful as his.

An hour and a half late Kakashi and Rieka finally arrived. Hiashi, having gotten to know Kakashi somewhat during their shared search for Rieka, had predicted this and the dinner was just about ready when they arrived. He greeted them by the door where they both bowed politely, Rieka with all the grace she had lacked earlier and Kakashi simply inclining his head slightly, to him before he proceeded to lead them further into the house.

As they enjoyed his daughter's fine cooking together Hiashi couldn't help but feel a little guilty. His eyes kept going to the ever silent girl and he wondered if he could have done anything to stop this from happening_. _The memory of his sister's funeral flashed through his mind and cold hands wrapped themselves around his heart as he remembered how easily he had dismissed the new born baby as useless. _If I hadn't dismissed her then, would she have stayed in the village later on? Would she have felt that she could share whatever reasons she had for leaving in the first place? _

Such thoughts were hopeless of course, as there was no way to change the past anyway.

After dinner Hiashi and Kakashi withdrew to Hiashi's office and left the girls to take care of the dishes. They sat down on the pillows where Hiashi usually received important guests to his house, a small table in between them.

- "So," Hiashi began, "would you like to tell me what's going on here?"

Kakashi, looking strangely out of place in this neatly cleaned, traditional room, met the elder man's eyes for a moment and then looked away.

- "Apparently she was brought back by an ANBU-squad. According to them she was in the company of Uchiha Itachi, and probably has been for some time."

Hiashi considered this silently, allowing the other man a moment to gather his composure again after what was undoubtedly an embarrassing confession. Already from the posture Kakashi held now, when his daughter was not around, Hiashi could tell that he was torn.

- "She was held by the intelligence unit but has so far refused to say a word and not even the Yamanaka can break through her defense. So Tsunade-sama decided to seal her chakra away and then leave her with me."

For anyone who was not a shinobi Kakashi would have appeared perfectly calm, relaxed even, but for Hiashi the flickering of his one visible eye and the way the man's hands gripped each other so firmly he was sure it hurt spoke volumes.

- "I see," Hiashi replied, understanding why this would've been a bad discussion to have on a public street.

And for all the cold-blooded, uncaring clan leader Hiashi was often accused of being he really did understand this dilemma. He did not envy the other man's position.

- "How long do you have?" he inquired.

Silently Kakashi shrugged, still not meeting Hiashi's eyes. Hiashi closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Trying to remain objective he sorted out the different key-dilemmas.

It was obvious that Kakashi cared deeply for his daughter and that he would do everything in his power to protect her. However in the current situation he wasn't only a father reuniting with his daughter, no matter how much he might like to think so. Rieka was, Hiashi admitted unwillingly, a possible danger. Seeing as she had most likely spent the majority of the last three years with the criminal there was no saying how much the girl had changed, or if she was even the same girl she had once been. It was entirely possibly that she had been brainwashed by the Uchiha. For all they knew she might even be a part of one of his schemes.

On the other hand they had the fact that Rieka was still so young that there were still somewhat of a taboo in how far they could go with her. As such it was not really a big surprise that the Hokage had chosen to avoid torture if she could. Despite this Rieka remained a possible threat as long as she refused to talk and as the Hokage Tsunade-sama would have to deal with that threat sooner or later, in one way or another.

_Kakashi better make that girl talk quickly, _Hiashi thought gravely. _Or Tsunade-sama will have no choice but to either forcefully make her talk or to simply eliminate that threat. No one would like another massacre like the Uchiha massacre to happen._ He didn't even want to think about what would happen if and when Tsunade-sama had to act. Kakashi, who was already torn between the duty to get his daughter to talk and the simple joy to have her back, would then be forced to choose between his village and leaving his only daughter at the mercy of the torture and interrogation unit.

When the two Hatakes finally left the house Hiashi was still deeply in thought. On a whim he summoned a few of the clan members he trusted the most. When they had all gathered in his office he hesitated, unsure if this may not be to go a little too far. Then he shook his head. No, he would do what he could to help the Hatakes.

- "From now on I want a member of the clan to follow Hatake Rieka around at every hour, day or night," he told them. "Don't let her notice you. Only intervene if it's necessary."

The members gathered nodded their understanding and one of them immediately left to find the girl and begin what would develop into a very long, carefully scheduled, unofficial mission of the clan.

- "Kami knows what will happen to that girl now but I've got a feeling she's got plenty of enemies lurking around," he muttered under his breath.


	6. Thoughts in the night

**So... If I'm not wrong, it's about a month since I updated this story. Sorry people, I'm really sorry! I'll try to do better from now on! Anyway, here's the continuation and as usual, please tell me what you think! **

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Rieka lay in her room, staring up at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep. Too many thoughts were running through her head at the moment.

In a way it was almost nice being back in Konoha, she pondered. Everything was so familiar and not much seemed to have changed during the past three years. She had missed Konoha and there was something special about lying in your own bed in your own room that sleeping under the stars or some inn could never quite make up for.

Outside the window a bird lifted from a three, fighting for a moment to keep flying before he gained control of the winds under his wings and sailed higher. Rieka sat up straight in bed, her hand already reaching for a kunai. The weapon pouch wasn't there and she was once again reminded of exactly how vulnerable she was.

_No weapons, _she thought bitterly. _No chakra either for that matter. I'm back at square one, about as defenseless as a toddler. _For a moment she could once again feel those arms wrapped around her, keeping her immobile, silencing her screams. And then the pain erupting from the back of her mouth. She shuddered at the memory.

_I hate being back, _she thought as she lay back down again, trying to relax. _I no longer know who the enemy is and who I can call my friend. _She thought back to that moment three years ago when she had realized the truth about the Uchiha massacre and the man she later came to call her sensei. Things were even more complicated than she had realized then.

Her father, for example. Was he a friend or an enemy? She doubted that he had had any part in the destruction of the Uchiha-clan, but that didn't mean that he hadn't benefited from it. And he was one of those insisting that Itachi-sensei was a criminal. How much did he know anyway?

The sound of a window opening startled her and she found herself standing, ready to fight, hands already on her hips looking for her weapon pouch. For one frantic moment she almost panicked as she could, once again, not find her weapons. Then she realized that it wasn't even her window that had opened but the one in the room next to hers. Her father's room.

Still panting from the shock she listened carefully, trying to decide if this was some sort of threat. Who would be stupid enough to break into the house of the Copy Cat Ninja? Either someone so stupid he didn't even realize the risks with that or someone so strong he didn't care about the risks.

- "Hey Hatake, I thought you'd might be awake," someone whispered from the other room, loud enough for Rieka to hear it through the wall.

- "Anko!?" her father hissed.

Rieka sighed and returned to her bed, cursing her lack of weaponry. Not even a dull kunai from her childhood had been left in the room, the only weapons being those her father had. Which she doubted she would get access to anytime soon.

- "I thought we could…" Anko's voice began, only to be interrupted by her father's.

- "Not now and not here!"

- "Why not? We've done it plenty enough before."

Feeling sick over what the conversation suggested Rieka pulled a pillow over her head, attempting to close the voices of her father and Anko out. She really did not need to know what her father had done with that woman! Despite her efforts their voices continued to seep through to her and she curled into a ball, still holding the pillow in place, humming for herself.

Sounds as if from wrestling could be heard and a moment later Rieka could literally hear how her father threw the woman out from his window. He hissed a warning for her not to return and then the window was closed, admittedly with more force than what was necessary.

Sighing in relief Rieka removed the pillow, starting to relax. At least she would not have to lie here and listen to that kind of things going on in the other room.

Knock, knock.

For the third time in about fifteen minutes Rieka searched for her weapons as she threw herself out of bed and got into battle stance. This time she could clearly see a figure lurking on her window still, looking straight at her. Her hand stilled at her hip and she could feel herself blushing slightly as the figure smirked at her.

- "Didn't mean to scare you," Anko said as she opened the window and let herself in.

Finding no answer Rieka chose to remain silent, just staring at the other woman with hard eyes. She did not appreciate the ease in which she let herself into the room, as if she had all the right in the world to be there.

- "Just wanted to make sure we didn't wake you up or anything," Anko continued, looking around curiously.

Her voice did not sound sad or regretful in the least.

- "I was already awake," Rieka muttered.

- "Hm, you say so?" Anko replied, "What kind of childish room is this anyway? Packed with some stupid toys and what's with that ugly teddy?"

Before Rieka could answer the door swung open to reveal a very angry looking Kakashi.

- "This is the room of _my daughter,_" Kakashi answered Anko's question, a warning tone in his voice. "I would very much appreciate it if you would remove yourself from here right now."

- "Relax Kakashi, I just wanted to make sure that she was ok," was Anko's untroubled answer. "You know, make sure there's no hard feelings about not being daddy's only girl now and everything."

Wisely Rieka stepped aside as her father stepped up to the other woman, growling low in his throat. Anko seemed unaffected by his anger and just placed a hand on his cheek to pull down the mask. In a lower voice she whispered into his ear, as if she only wanted him to hear what she had to say.

- "I just want to make sure there are no angry feelings between us in case I become her new mama."

Two seconds later Anko had been effectively dumped out through the window. Kakashi did not see Rieka smirking at the other woman. Anko did, and she smirked right back and snatched Kakashi's book right from his pocket before she was dumped. That Kakashi did notice and he growled again.

- "Give that back, Anko!"

- "You'll have to come and get it", Anko sing-sang, already heading away from the building where she was clearly not welcome.

Sighing Kakashi glanced between his daughter and the disappearing figure of Anko, who was waving his book in the air. It was his favorite. It was a special edition that had only been given out in a hundred copies, especially signed by the author himself when Jiraya had last been in the town.

- "I'll be right back," he promised before he jumped out through the window, chasing after Anko.

When he returned, a little more than an hour later, Rieka had long since closed her window against the cold night air and slept peacefully in her bed. She did not wake up when he tried to knock on her window, though Kakashi could have sworn he saw her hands twitch at the sound. When he knocked again she promptly turned over in the bed, turning her back to the window and him. Sighing Kakashi realized that if Anko had wanted to strain the relationship between him and his daughter further she had succeeded.

The window in his own bedroom had already been secured to ensure there would be no more nightly visitors, so Kakashi soon found himself breaking through the door to get into his own house. Funny enough Rieka didn't wake up even then, despite the noise he made.

After a last look into Rieka's room, just to ensure that there was nothing wrong with her, Kakashi went to bed. Sleep eluded him as thoughts of Anko's strange behavior lately troubled him. He had thought he knew her better than that. She could seem rough and sometimes even barbaric to people who didn't know her but truth was she had her own type of sensitivity. True that she was a bit rough around the edges but that was just how she was. And this behavior around Rieka made absolutely no sense to him.

If anything he had expected her to be supportive of Rieka, seeing as she herself had once run away with a criminal. A part of him had hoped that the two of them would be able to bond over their similar experiences but it now seemed like that would never happen.

In the room next to his Rieka lay awake, unable to relax as her body was tense with emotions she didn't know what to do with. She felt guilty for leaving the village, for abandoning her father when he probably would have needed her and for not even being able to return willingly but instead having to be brought back by force. She was angry, for the sake of Itachi-sensei, for the cruel games the most powerful people of Konoha seemed to be playing. Fear, for her own sake as well as for those she cared about. Confusion, over who she could trust and not, the fact that her friends were unknowingly serving her enemies.

All of these feelings were running rampage within her, slowly driving her insane. A part of her just wanted to cry and crawl up into her father's lap so that he could make everything go away. Logically she knew things weren't that easy. Still, when Anko so obviously were showing off her closeness to her father she felt weirdly threatened by her. What if her father suddenly decided that he couldn't be bothered with her? That Anko was all that he needed and that he would be better off without her, Rieka?

Not that she wouldn't understand it if he came to that conclusion. Hadn't she already caused him enough problem, without adding this too?

She was smart enough to realize that this was only a temporary solution. The Hokage couldn't allow a potential enemy, a companion of the infamous mass murderer Uchiha Itachi, to freely walk the streets of Konoha. Sooner or later her father would have to make her talk and spill all of those secrets she held, or she would be handed over to someone with more forceful methods.

Problem was that Rieka wouldn't reveal those secrets because they weren't hers to reveal in the first place. She had sworn to Itachi-sensei that she would keep his secrets and even if she wanted to break that promise the recent attack and the second seal, the one on the back of her tongue, suggested that she wouldn't be able to do so.

_I'm a mess, _Rieka concluded. _I'm such a fucked up mess._

As the night progressed the two Hatakes lay awake in their beds, progressing their thoughts and trying to find solutions to their problems. By the time the sun began to rise neither of them had been successful but tiredness slowly forced them into a short, pitiful sleep.

The Hyuuga that had been standing on post in a nearby three all night smiled gratefully as one of his fellow clan members came to take over for the day. Leaving the new guard behind he went to give his report to the clan leader.


	7. Well then… shall we begin?

**I was going to update yesterday, but I suddenly got a job so I couldn't finish writing the chapter. So here it is, a bit hastily written but I hope it is ok anyway? Please review and tell me what you think. **

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It was a beautiful and sunny morning, where birds were chirping, kids were laughing on their way to the academy and most people were just genuinely content with their lives. In Konoha this was much like any other morning, however so wasn't the case. Few was aware of it, but on this day it was almost 2,5 years ago since a certain blonde boy with the goal of becoming Hokage one day had left the village to train.

Two figures were making their way towards the gates, where two guards were bored and halfway asleep already. Upon reaching within the gates, the shorter of the two figures dropped his backpack and easily climbed the closest lamp post.

- "Haha… He's certainly cheerful today, isn't he?" the elder of the two, still on the ground, laughed silently for himself while looking up towards his young companion.

- "Alright! I've missed this place! It hasn't changed one bit!" the one on the lamp post announced loudly.

Then he noticed that there had actually been a change, which made him chuckle much like the elder one had not long ago.

- "So they've added Tsunade's ugly old mug to the mountain? Ha!"

Though the words may seem mean and disrespectful the tone spoke of fondness for the woman whose face was now on the mountain along with the previous four Hokages of the village.

- "You've grown quite a lot, haven't you, Naruto?" a third voice suddenly spoke, slightly startling the other two.

Turning towards the new voice the face of the blonde broke into a wide smile.

- "Kakashi-sensei!" he exclaimed, jumping down from the lamp post he'd been occupying to great his old sensei.

Kakashi, who had been enjoying a rare moment of solitude, something he hadn't had much of ever since he and his daughter had been reunited almost two weeks ago, tucked his book away to greet his old student. Behind the ever present mask he was smiling fondly, happy to see that the loudest of his students was well after all this time.

- "Haha, you haven't changed at all!" Naruto said, and then continued as he landed, suddenly remembering something. "Wait! Oh yeah! Hey, I've got a present for you sensei."

And from his weapon pouch he withdrew a small book, nothing special to the untrained eye, no spectacular colors or anything to catch the eye. However, to Kakashi's trained eye, this seemed a nearly invaluable treasure.

- "Waaaat? You… H-how… Th… This is…" he mumbled, unable to form coherent sentences to express what he was feeling at the moment.

With trembling hands he reached out to take the book, for a moment almost hesitant, as if afraid that it would disappear the moment he touched it. His one visible eye bulged when the book stayed where it was, firmly and yet carefully held between his hands.

- "This is the latest in the Icha-Icha series after 3 years", Naruto explained. "It's really boring but you'll like it, I think."

Neither of the men noticed the affronted look on the elder man's face as the book he himself ad written was so carelessly described as "boring". What else could you expect from someone so young? Someone like Naruto wouldn't be able to appreciate the fine art that was that book, nor would he be able to understand how rare it was for someone to be able to read it before it was even published.

Soon enough the group of three headed further into the village, Naruto running ahead shouting something about Ichiraku's ramen, leaving his two senseis behind to follow best as they could.

- "As promised, I'll leave Naruto back into your care" Jiraya spoke.

Kakashi glanced up from the book he was already loosing himself in, listening to what the sannin had to say whilst also keeping an eye to the plot of the book. Years of training had given result in doing both at the same time.

- "I fear the Akatsuki has been growing impatient… they may make an attempt at Naruto soon," Jiraya continued. "I'm going to head around and gather as much information as I can."

Just then surprised call could be hear in front of them as Naruto caught sight of another one of Kakashi's old students, and one of Naruto's teammates, who had been out walking with her sensei as of about two and a half years.

- "Sa… Sakura-chan?" the blonde stuttered out.

- "Eh? Naruto?" the pink headed kunoichi replied, equally surprised.

Kakashi reburied himself in the book while the two greeted each other and Sakura acknowledged that Naruto was now taller than her. Between the familiar bickering of his two students and the new, exciting reading Kakashi was perfectly content and able to for at least a moment forget about the situation with his daughter and Anko. After having strived to keep the two apart Kakashi had finally realized that he didn't want to choose between them, and therefore decided that he shouldn't do so either. So, taking a risk in trusting Anko to behave as the adult she was, he had left the two alone for the day in the hopes that they would bond. Since the village had yet to crumble under the fighting between the two, Kakashi dared to hope that maybe they had finally reached some sort of peace.

The peacefulness of Kakashi's mind was broken when Sakura hit Naruto into the ground hard enough to make a hole in the concrete and continued to shake him, whilst shouting at him for attempting the sexy no jutso so soon after their reunion.

- "Hey, hey Sakura, calm down… Konohamaru here is terrified," Kakashi tried to calm her down, motioning for the young Naruto-fan who must have joined the group while Kakashi was lost in the world of Icha-Icha.

Tsunade, who had remained silent so far and just chosen to look at the youngsters' reunion, spoke then, in a tone suggesting that she was not impressed;

- "Jiraya.. Naruto has grown more and more like you in the last two years, hasn't he?"

Jiraya in turn had a look of horror on his face, realizing that the world did not only have one but now two women like Tsunade, both equally violent and strong.

- "Right," Tsunade sighed. "The nostalgia ends here though. Kakashi."

Instinctively recognizing the tone as one of Tsunade's serious ones Kakashi clapped the book shut, determined to continue reading it later, and then focused on the matter at hand.

- "Well… it's been a while, hasn't it?" he said, looking at his two students.

At their confused looks he continued on:

- "From now on, the two of you will come with me on team-related missions. It's different than before. It's no longer teacher and pupil. Starting today we're equal Konoha shinbis."

Feeling a joy similar to the one visible in their faces Kakashi jingled with two familiar bells, watching as both of their stances instantly turned attentive as they recognized them and their purpose.

- "Well…" he spoke lazily, "first I'm a bit curious as to how you've developed. The rules are the same as when I first met you two. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you'll never succeed in getting the bells."

Together they moved towards the training ground, the same one where their team had had their first training for what seemed a lifetime ago. Kakashi repeated the rules and told them that they would have until sunrise the next day, while Naruto and Sakura glanced around, feeling nostalgic. Kakashi repressed the urge to do the same. This was serious, he reminded himself. Naruto had always had the ability to surpass the expectations one had in him, and he knew from just looking at Tsunade that Sakura was no longer the little girl she used to be. This time around he would have to get serious with them.

- "Ah, that's right. This is where you first trained, isn't it?" Kakashi said, sounding bored while the memories flashed by his eyes.

- "Team 7…" Sakura whispered.

- "The three man team… well, four actually," Naruto continued her thoughts.

Memories of the three students, that very first morning when he tested them, flashed across Kakashi's mind. Naruto, loud and annoying but already determined to become Hokage and prove his worth to everyone. Sakura, immature and more interested in boys than the way of ninja, despite her good grades from the academy.

- "That time… Sasuke was around too, wasn't he?" Kakashi thought aloud.

Noticing the instantly depressed look on the two others Kakashi realized that Sasuke's name still was a taboo for them. Instead he made sure that his book was safely tucked in the pouch on his hip before he spoke, breaking his former students out of their depression.

- "Well then… shall we begin?

- Hehe… you won't do it while reading your book this time, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto chuckled darkly.

- "You've already finished it?" Sakura teased, putting on her gloves with a look in her eyes that promised pain to those who stood in her way.

Happy that he had at least managed to break the two out of their depressed state Kakashi too readied himself for battle.

- "No, I'll save it for later. Besides, this time I get the feeling I should be a little more serious," he replied, moving his forehead protector to the side to reveal his sharingan eye.

They stood there for a moment, staring each other down. Kakashi against Sakura and Naruto. For a moment Sasuke crossed Kakashi's mind, and he wondered what had happened to the boy. He had always taken pride in being stronger than his comrades, insisting that he was special. How much had he changed since the last time they had seen him?

Pushing the raven haired Uchiha from his mind Kakashi was surprised when an image of Rieka facing him in the same manner as the other two came to mind. In an instant it was gone but he couldn't really stop thinking about it. He had never really faced his daughter like this, despite her being on his team. What were her skills? Before she left he had just started to realize that she was stronger than he would have thought, but what about now?

With her chakra sealed away and being forbidden to use any weapons there were no way to evaluate her like he would with these two. How did she fight? Did she prefer close combat or distance? What jutsus did she use? What weapons did she favor and which did she avoid? Defensive or attack?

Before he could try to even find the answer to one of the questions forming in his head Naruto lounged a series of kunai and shuriken at him, which Kakashi easily dodged. The battle started and Naruto and Kakashi exchanged a first few blows, testing each other out, dust flying in the air until the scene stilled, finding one Naruto held in much the same manner as all those years ago when he had started out too early, while another Naruto pointed a kunai at Kakashi's back.

Naruto chuckled. Kakashi smiled. _You've matured, haven't you, Naruto? _he thought for himself.

- "Alright…" Kakashi said, smiling behind his mask. "Start."

And with that the clone that was Kakashi disappeared with a loud pop, leaving a cloud of smoke behind that quickly disappeared in the light breeze.

Sakura, who had yet to do anything in this fight, quickly checked possible places for her sensei to appear again. Not left or right, nor behind her or above her. And if he were in none of those places then he must be…

- "Below," she deducted, pulling her arm back for an earth shattering blow.

Naruto quickly jumped back, barely avoiding the moving chaos that was suddenly the earth below his feet shattering to the power of his pink headed teammate. As the dust settle Sakura spotted Kakashi, hidden in the shattered ground, still startled by the sheer strength she had just displayed.

- "Found you," she smiled threating.

Crawling out from his now useless hiding spot Kakashi thought about his next move. Sakura had begun as a genjutsu-type, but now she also had this ridiculus strength on top of her medical ninjutsu. _She may very well end up being a better shinobi than the fifth, _he thought fearfully.

- "This time, I should do something on my part," Kakashi stated as he began his next move.

Hours passed by like that, the earth shattering around the training ground, Kakashi trying to avoid Sakura's fists and thereby her bone-breaking strength, Naruto and Kakashi exchanging blows, traps being set and avoided, anything to win the battle.

In the darkness of the night both sides retreated to regain some strength and rethink their strategy. Kakashi marveled over the growth of his two students, for a moment unable to believe that the two annoying kids he used to know had become these two opponents. He would have to be careful.

Not long before dawn Kakashi, who had been taking cower behind a tree, became aware of his two ex-students coming in for another attack. He stood up to fight them off and was surprised to see both of them making a direct attack from right ahead of him. Either they were getting desperate, or this was some sort of trick…

- "Now Naruto!" Sakura shouted, confirming Kakashi's suspicions.

- "Let's go! Kakashi sensei! The last joke in Icha- Ichja Tactics… The truth is that the main character…"

Realizing that they would ruin the ending of the book to him he threw his arms up to cover his ears, not wanting to hear the ending of the book. But thanks to his sharingan he could still read Naruto's lips, and so he closed his eyes as well, without further thought about it.

Everything became darkness to him as he awaited what would happen next. A blow, or some attempt to ruin the ending to him anyway?

Nothing happened.

Slowly he withdrew his hands, and a light jingle met his ears.

Opening his eyes he saw two very proud shinobi standing in front of him, holding a bell each in their hands.

- "Hehe… A ninja should look underneath the underneath," Naruto spoke.

- "Right sensei?" Sakira continued, teasingly.

They had won. And in all honesty, Kakashi couldn't be happier or more proud about it.


	8. Breaking the walls

**Sorry I'm late in the updating! I'll update two chapter in a row to make it up to you guys! Merry Christmas! **

**And I just finished writing these, so I'm sorry about errors in grammar and spelling!**

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Rieka did not like being back in Konoha.

Rumor about her had gotten out to the villagers, about who she was and what she had done, and now looks followed her as she and Anko made their way down the street towards the market place. Some people stared openly, others tried to be a bit more discrete. Worst though was the whispers that followed her, in slightly fearful, slightly distrusting tones.

- "It's that Hatake girl!"

- "The one who ran away with the Uchiha?"

- "As in the _elder _Uchiha? The mass murderer?"

- "What's she doing walking freely on these streets?"

- "Yeah, why isn't she behind bars where she belongs?"

- "She's probably just as bad as him you know. One day we'll wake up and find ourselves killed in our own beds, I tell you!"

Trying to ignore the stares and the whispers Rieka hunched her shoulders, as if that would protect her from it all, and hurried her steps a little to catch up to Anko again.

That was another thing she didn't like about being back in Konoha. Anko would just not leave her alone, no matter what she did. If she was not trying to steal a moment alone with Kakashi, then she was trying to "bond" with Rieka. Only Anko could call tying someone to a chair and then making them trying to force feed them with a suspicious looking brown goo that had once been leftovers from the dinner her father made the night before "bonding". Whatever relationship Anko and her father had (and having heard some of the suggestions Anko would half-whisper in Kakashi's ear, suggestions that would sometimes make even her father blush behind his mask, Rieka knew very well what kind of relationship the two had) it was obvious that Anko should never be the one responsible in the kitchen.

The two of them reached the market place and started looking around for stands offering the items her father had scribbled down on a list for them to buy. Anko lead the way confidently, occasionally making a remark that Rieka would ignore.

She realized that her animosity towards Anko was childish. Her father had, as far as she knew, remained completely loyal to her mother years after her death. And truthfully it wasn't even the idea of someone taking over her mother's place that bothered her. No, for some reason it was the fact that she now had to share her father that bothered her. That, on top of her still not giving anything away about her time with Uchiha Itachi and the vary position it put her in, made her feel like she would lose her father. It was almost as if she already had lost a part of him, to Anko, and now she was just waiting for her time to run out before the Hokage would decide to lock her up, which would then mean that Rieka really had lost her father.

Abruptly she was brought out of her reverie of thoughts as someone's shoulder crashed into hers. Taken by surprise she lost her balance and, by the help of an anonymous pair of hands, she ungracefully fell on her behind.

- "What're you doing down there kiddo?" Anko, who had been looking at some carrots, asked.

Glaring at the mass of people but unable to decide exactly whom had pushed her Rieka got up, still not answering Anko's question. She hadn't even gotten an apology, not that she was naïve enough to think it had been a mistake in the first place. _Guess I should just be happy that he didn't have a kunai to stab me with, _she thought bitterly.

- "Come on kiddo, I think we're done here," Anko spoke as she paid for the vegetables she wanted and then led the way back towards their house.

Fighting to regain her calm Rieka hurried along, glancing around her at every step she took. The glares still followed her: angry glares, distrusting glares, accusing glares. Her skin was burning from their glares. Who of them was it that had tackled her like that? Was there more of them wanting to do the same? Would they gang up on her, now when she was so vulnerable, and decide to kill this threat to their peaceful lives?

- "… shouldn't be allowed to roam the streets like this!"

- "What's the Hokage thinking, letting someone like her loose on the streets?!"

- "She's probably as crazy as that Uchiha Itachi!"

The whispers followed her even as she quickened her steps further. Their glares burned her skin. Suddenly the open street felt like a narrow alley, all too clamped up with people. She couldn't breathe properly, she couldn't move away from what her instincts were yelling at her was danger!

- "Calm down kiddo, daddy wouldn't want you to make scene out here."

Anko's hand grabbed a hold of her upper arm, preventing her from running off. Restricted to the slow pace Anko was walking in Rieka tried to even out her shallow breathing, tried to stop her heard from beating too fast and too hard in her chest. Her eyes roamed over her surroundings, only seeing the glares of the people around her. Whispers followed her, clinging to her body like heavy chains, weighing her down, taking away any chance she had to protect herself.

- "Stop acting like such a newbie kid!"

The hand around her upper arm tightened further. That was the last straw.

Without thinking, simply acting upon years and years of instincts being trained into her, screaming at her to defend herself in some way, she struck out. Anko easily dodged the blow but another was already coming at her, effectively hitting her nose with a very satisfying cracking sound.

For a moment Rieka froze, taken aback by the blood emitting from Anko's nose. Then Anko smiled; like a cat that had just cornered a mouse and were now going in for the killing blow. Instincts, fear and anger took over from then on and Rieka was only vaguely aware of what was happening, seeing the fight between the two develop through a red haze.

Those whom had known Rieka before she left the village knew that close combat was a weakness of hers. Her uncle had tried to teach her and under his tutelage she had actually developed some skills. Itachi had further sharpened her ability of hand to hand combat during her time with him. However very little could be said about her fighting style as she clumsily attacked, too caught up in the emotions running wild within her to practice any finesse.

Villagers scattered around them, running away from what was obviously a fight between ninjas. Rieka dodged a series of blows from Anko, only to be hit in the stomach with a vicious kick that sent her flying into the closest wall. Quickly Rieka was up again, growling asshe attacked again, jumping to attack from above and then aiming a kick towards Anko's legs as soon as she landed. Anko narrowly avoided the last kick by jumping back. She dropped the bag of groceries and then brought both her hands up to defend herself from another attack.

The disturbance of the peace had finally caught the attention of some of the ninjas patrolling around. A group of chunin was heading in their direction, hesitating when they saw what was causing the tumult.

- "I've got this!" Anko shouted at them, dodging a kick aimed at her head.

Under the unbelieving looks of the villagers and the gathered chunins Anko ran forward, dodging the younger girl's defenses and grabbing a hold of the back of her shirt. Tugging sharply she brought them both to the rooftops, heading away from the busy market place. Rieka was now howling, struggling to get loose.

- "Let me down!" she shouted, her voice somewhat hoarse from weeks of not being used.

Much to her surprise she was, as Anko simply dropped her down into the backyard of their house. A moment later she landed right next to the girl, hands already up and ready for fight.

- "You wanted to fight? Then come on and fight me!" she called.

- "URGH, I HATE YOU!" Rieka roared, going in for another attack.

Quickly Anko stepped aside and instead let her foot connect with the younger woman's stomach, sending her into the fence surrounding the backyard.

- "You're mistaken if you think I give a shit about what you think kiddo!" Anko replied, closing in on her prey. "Daddy on the other hand doesn't seem to hate me."

Suddenly she was hit with a torpedo of waving arms and kicking legs, sending them both sprawled on the ground. Anko grunted as her ribs got a hit but soon enough she'd managed to switch the positions, finding herself on top and Rieka pressed into the ground, arms held tightly above her head and legs kicking uselessly.

- "I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU!" the child wailed, tears leaking out of her eyes and streaming down her face.

Anko snorted, suddenly very calm.

- "Of course you do kiddo," she replied, her tone almost affectionate.

Then she looked up to see a stunned Kakashi standing at the back door of the house, staring at them. Their eyes met, Kakashi's gaze turning questioning and hers confident.

A moment later the body beneath her stopped its struggling and relaxed in her grip, a loud sob escaping the girl. Anko glanced down at the girl and then stood up, releasing her hold of the thirteen year old.

- "Time for you to do that Daddy-comforting-thing, I think," she stated, looking at Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded silently, still in shock of what he'd seen, and crouched down to gather his daughter up in a hug. Much to his surprise she did not go stiff or try to pull away, instead she pulled closer, burying her face in his shoulder.

Rieka wasn't sure why she was crying or even why she had been fighting. Too many emotions, too much pent up inside of her, had been let loose and were now effectively stopping her from even forming a single coherent thought. The walls she had built to protect herself were shattering around her and in that chaos there was a one embrace that held her together and stopped her from shattering too, anchoring her to the world.

Silently Anko watched father and daughter sit there in the back yard, clinging to each other desperately. _Finally, _she thought.


	9. Comfort

Half an hour later found the two Hatakes on the sofa in the living room, Rieka still in Kakashi's lap. She didn't care if she came across as childish, the comfort that her father continued to emit felt too good for her to let go just yet. Still she had calmed down and the rest of the world was slowly getting back to her. She shifted a little, still not pulling away or removing her arms from where they were draped around his neck.

- "I still don't like her," she muttered into his shoulder, the cloth wet with her tears from before.

- "That's ok," he answered calmly, running a hand through her hair.

- "I _really _don't like her," she explained, pouting.

Her father did not reply, simply continued to run his hand through her hair in that soothing and calming manner.

- "She's mean", she added, as an afterthought.

The effect of determination and seriousness she was going for was ruined as she yawned, realizing that she was positively exhausted from that emotional breakdown. Kakashi just chuckled.

- "She comes across as mean sometimes," he agreed, "but deep inside she's really quite sweet."

- "Mm, must be really deep down," Reika mumbled tiredly, snuggling closer. "Really, _really _deep down."

- "I love her," he confessed.

- "Mm, as long as you love me the most."

- "Always," he assured her.

Not long afterwards she was asleep, breathing evenly against him. Careful not to wake her up Kakashi carried her up the stairs to her room and put her down in her bed, wrapping the blankets around her to keep her warm. With a kiss to her forehead he silently closed the door and went downstairs again.

He found Anko in the kitchen, polishing her weapons. He didn't say anything about weapons around the table, nor about the oil she was using. Why would he, when he was just as hopeless as her when it came down to it?

- "She's sleeping now," he told her finally.

- "Good. She'll need it, after that meltdown."

Anko continued to polish her weapons, not looking up even as she spoke. Having learned to know her pretty good over the years, Kakashi was not fooled by her innocent act. He smiled behind his mask as he crossed his arms.

- "You set this up," he accused her.

- "Prove it," she challenged, without looking up from where she was now sharpening a kunai.

- "I don't plan to. I wanted to thank you," he said.

- "You're welcome."

Silence again fell over the kitchen, only interrupted by the sound of Anko sharpening her kunai. The clock was ticking too. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Kakashi felt warm inside, knowing that his daughter was once again talking to him and that she could still accept him comforting her at times.

- "How did you know what to do?" he asked.

- "She needed it," Anko shrugged, picking up another kunai to sharpen that too.

- "But how did you know what she needed?"

For a while Anko did not reply. Kakashi had almost given up the hopes that she would when she finally put the kunai down, satisfied with its sharpness, and looked up at him. Her eyes were serious, in the way they rarely got because she would hide her seriousness behind that loud mask of scary cheerfulness.

- "We're not so different, she and I," she explained. "I don't why she ran away with that Uchiha Itachi but now she's here in Konoha, surrounded by people who distrust her because of what she did. It's not that different from how it was for me when I returned from Orochimaru."

Kakashi nodded, thinking he understood. He himself had never experienced anything like it. Always viewed as a genius the attention he received were mostly positive or in the form of jealousy. If anything people tended to trust him because of whom he was and his skills as a ninja.

- "It's hard you know, when you don't feel like you can trust those who used to be your friends, when former allies becomes questionable."

Her voice sounded almost absent minded as she picked up a shuriken and began to sharpen it. Focused on the task at hand she continued talking, as if thinking aloud.

- "When you see the look in their eyes you know that they question whether you are still an alley of theirs or if you've betrayed them. You feel ashamed for doing what you did. Logically you understand their reasoning, but how can they doubt you when they once used to be your friends?"

The shuriken was put down in favor of another. Slow, precise movements sharpened it to deadly precision before a cloth with oil was picked up and rubbed at a small spot of dirt.

- "Their doubt makes you doubt yourself," she continued. "You feel vulnerable, exposed to their looks and their questioning of you."

Satisfied with the shuriken she picked up a kunai, repeating the process with it.

- "Shame, hurt, confusion about your loyalties, fear; all of these runs through you and it's not that easy to vent it out. So it just keeps building and growing inside of you, stacked behind those walls that you build to protect yourself. But those walls will break sooner or later, and when they do you need someone there who will catch you. Someone you can really trust, despite it all."

Admiring the now shiningly sharp kunai a moment Anko put it down and picked up another one.

- "I see," Kakashi spoke quietly. "So you decided to break those walls when there was someone there to catch her?"

- "Yup. Hurried on the process, so to speak."

- "That's why you were acting so strange?"

The innocent whistling he got as a reply was probably a yes, Kakashi decided.

- "You could have told me," Kakashi complained, pouting behind his mask.

That finally caught her attention and Anko put the last kunai down and rose so that they were standing face to face. She was quite a bit shorter than him so she had to lean her head back to meet his eyes, but that did nothing to affect her.

- "Oh, but I used you shamelessly," she replied, smiling. "Your reactions were too real for me to tell you anything. You couldn't have faked that, she would have noticed."

- "I'm a good actor," he defended himself.

- "You're an awful actor."

- "I'm not!"

- "You've got stage fright," she reminded him.

- "I told you: that was not stage fright, I thought I saw someone suspicious!"

- "Just before it was your turn to get up on that stage?"

- "Yup. Too bad, I'm an amazing actor."

- "Liar."

Their lips met and for a while the kitchen was totally silent as the two devoured each other. Hands started to explore the other, wandering slipping under clothes, removing clothes. Then, as Anko's hand wrapped around Kakashi's weapon pouch, they separated. Not by Anko's initiative, mind you, but Kakashi was suddenly reminded that he had a very valuable book in there. Snatching it up he made sure that it was ok, no scratches to the cover, no torn pages, nothing! He sighed in relief.

Anko cleared her throat, loudly.

- "You ok there honey?" Kakashi asked, already opening the book the page where he had last left off.

- "Now when you mention it it's a bit chilly in here," she bit back, motioning to her upper body, now only covered in her bra.

Kakashi did not notice.

- "You know where the blankets are."

Huffing indignantly Anko puller her sweater back on again, glaring at the man sitting on the couch, totally lost in his book. What was with that book anyway? Sure that he usually had one somewhere on his person, but usually she would be able to distract him. Curiously she looked closer.

- "Hey, that's a new one!" she exclaimed.

- "Yup."

- "And it's not even out in the stores yet!"

- "Nope."

- "Where'd you get it?"

- "Got a contact close to the author himself."

She had to think a moment about that one. Then she realized what, or rather whom, he meant.

- "That Naruto-kid is back in town?"

- "Yep, came back yesterday."

Her glare intensified.

- "So that's where you've been? Catching up with the kid?"

- "Mm. Both of them."

- "Both? You mean that medic-girl too?"

- "Mm. Had to test them."

- "With that bell-test of yours? You do know that it loses all point when they've already figured out that they need to work together, right?"

A single eye became visible above the pages of the book, glaring at her.

- "It's not pointless just because they've figured that out."

- "Yes it is."

- "No it isn't."

- "They could just as well beat you into a pulp as try to catch those stupid bells."

- "Well now all they had to do was take the bells, which should make you happy really."

The eye disappeared behind the book again. Anko stared at him.

- "They won?" she asked, incredulous.

- "They did."

She snorted, and then laughed out loud.

- "You do know they are supposed to be below you, right? The girl is a chunin and the boy is still a freaking genin as far as I know!"

- "They had an expertly laid out strategy."

- "And what's that supposed to mean?"

No answer came and Anko glared at the back of the book, as if it was responsible for the lack of answers. And it was. Then a thought hit her.

- "They threatened the book, right? I bet they did. Just think of Naruto using that Rasengan of his on that stupid book. Or was he just a distraction, so the girl could get it and rip it?"

Behind the mask Kakashi had paled. The thought of either of those scenarios made him feel sick. Using the Rasengan on his precious book? Or the inhuman strength of Sakura? _NO! _He would have to make sure that Anko did not give them any ideas, at least not before he had finished the book.

Or he could just hide in his room, set up a number of traps and hope that they would leave him alone. Yeah, he should do that. At least until his daughter woke up again.


	10. Talking

**Thanks for the reviews guys! I love you! Here's the next chapter. **

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As he slowly closed the book in his hands, having finished reading it for the second time (for some reason Icha Icha series only got better and better the more he read them), Kakashi became aware of the light slipping through the curtains of his bedroom. The pale silver of the moon had gone and instead been exchanged for a warmer shade of orange, indicating dawn.

_Huh, already? _He thought for himself. Then his eyes fell upon his desk, where the paperwork he should have already finished last night lay untouched. With a sigh he put the book away and set to get started on the work. He could finish it this morning. Any Hokage leaving him with papers to fill out could not want quality anyway, right?

A while later the sound of someone getting up in the room next to him alerted him that his daughter was now awake. Hesitating a moment, suddenly afraid of how she would react to him now, he got up and opened his door just in time to see her leave her room for the bathroom. She stopped when she noticed him and for a moment they just looked at each other, equally unsure and hesitant.

- "Oh. Hi."

It was one word really, but to Kakashi that one word meant the world. His daughter was talking to him again! Instead of just ignoring him or just silently staring at him she had said hi!

- "Good morning," he replied, smiling behind the mask.

Blushing faintly she looked away, hugging her bathrobe closer to her. They would have to talk, now when she was talking again, and Kakashi felt like he could not get it over with soon enough. However, he was willing to accustom to the needs of others.

- "Go take a shower," he told her. "I'll make breakfast, and then we'll talk."

This time she just nodded and went for the bathroom. Kakashi brought the list of teams he was writing downstairs and got started on breakfast.

Half an hour later Rieka emerged from upstairs, dressed and ready for the day. Somewhat shyly she looked at him and then sat down by the table, still without saying a word. He joined her, sipping from his mug of coffee, and they sat like that in an awkward silence for a while. Finally Kakashi decided not to beat around the bush anymore.

- "You know that you'll have to talk sooner or later, right?"

The question was blunt, but he tried to make his voice calm and convincing.

- "I know," she answered, gripping a glass of juice between her hands in much the same manner he gripped his coffee, staring down into the depths of it.

- "You want to start by telling me why you ran away?"

Kakashi was by no means an interrogator. He was a fighter: he followed orders and did as he was told to, most of the time at least. The art of interrogation he more than gladly left to others, seeing as he was never really fit for it anyway. This time however he, with some help from Anko, had reached greater success than the expert interrogators. He just hoped that he would be able to continue getting her to talk so that they could get this whole thing over with.

- "No."

_And there went that hope. _

- "Tell me!" he ordered silently.

Rieka merely shook her head, not even dignifying his order with a reply. Kakashi sighed, wishing that parenthood could be simple just for once in his life.

- "If you don't talk to me you'll have to talk to someone else, you understand this, right? You'll have to give up whatever data you have, one way or another," he stated, looking at her.

- "I know that."

She did not look up to meet his eyes but he could see that her shoulders were tense, possibly with determination. And he knew from experience that when she had set her mind to something it was nearly impossible to make her change her mind.

- "So why won't you talk? Just tell me what you know, and I promise that the Hokage won't _torture _you!"

His voice rose at the word "torture", like he had been a nervous teenage boy and not a grown man. The word tasted bitter in his mouth. Somehow saying it out loud made the severity of the situation that much clearer.

- "I can't. I'm sorry."

- "Can't or won't?" he insisted.

- "I _can't_," she said, finally looking up to meet his eyes.

Though Kakashi could not read people's minds like Inoichi could, he knew in that moment that his daughter was serious. She was split but at least a part of her wanted to tell him, though something stopped her from doing so.

- "Why?" he asked.

Opening her mouth as if the speak she remained quiet, momentarily gasping and then closing her mouth again. She looked down again, too ashamed to meet his eyes any longer.

- "I can't," she repeated.

From this Kakashi drew his own conclusions. Keeping this conversation in the back of his mind he focused on the current situation instead, realizing that neither of them had really touched their breakfast yet.

- "Eat," he told her. "We've got a long day ahead of us."

A questioning look from her was enough to get him to explain further.

- "Naruto is back in town. He, Sakura and I have our first mission as a team again today. I was thinking I could ask the Hokage if you could join us, so that we'll make a full team."

Gaping at him in surprise Rieka failed to formulate any sort of answer to that. Kakashi chuckled, taking her chock as something positive.

Positive that his daughter was happy and would appreciate spending some time with her old team Kakashi let his taught wander, eventually settling back on the book he'd finished reading the same morning. It was a masterpiece, in his opinion, a true masterpiece. The characters were so well developed, the plot intriguing and the more intimate scenes were just…

It wasn't until Naruto called "You're late" that he was distracted from his thoughts and realized that he was now on an almost empty street, meeting up with Sakura and Naruto. And he probably was late.

- "Well, this time I was delayed by filling out the paper work for the new team…" he excused himself, knowing that they wouldn't believe him.

- "Today we start our first mission as a new team!" Naruto exploded at him. "Be enthusiastic! Kakashi-sensei, you've been like that for ages!"

- "Oh, let it go," Sakura scolded her blonde teammate. "There's nothing he can do about the fact that he has a face devoid of any enthusiasm."

_I'm… losing my dignity, aren't I? _Kakashi thought, suddenly remembering old times with his own sensei, back when he and Rin were a team and would completely ignore their blonde future Hokage in favor of each other. Was this how Minato-sensei had felt it, back then? Maybe he should visit the man's grave and apologize?

- "Looks like trouble."

The low voice startled all three of them and they turned to look at the girl who had spoken them, then followed her gaze to see a messenger bird in the sky.

- "He's fast," she noted. "From the Sand, if I'm not mistaken."

Pondering this it took Naruto and Sakura a moment to realize who it was that had spoken. When they finally did catch on they turned to stare at the girl, about a head shorter than them, her brown hair gathered in a ponytail in her neck. They stared, realizing that something was familiar about her, until finally…

- "Rieka-chan?" Sakura asked.

- "Huh?" Naruto sounded, still not sure if his teammate was correct.

Rieka couldn't help but smile lightly at them.

- "It's nice to see you two again," she answered.

Taking that as confirmation Sakura smiled too, stepping forward to hug the younger girl. Naruto joined the hugging a moment later, mumbling something about how she hadn't changed at all but.

Since they were already late they lazily made their way towards the Hokage tower, where they would receive their first mission. Neither Sakura nor Naruto commented on the fact that Rieka weren't wearing her headband but both seemed content on having her with them. If Sakura questioned her presence she kept it to herself, trusting the Hokage to know what she was doing (or at least being able to deal with the consequences, if she did not know).

Before long they reached the Hokage tower and the circular room where they would receive their orders. A very bored looking Tsunade sat amidst a number of advisors and trusted ninjas, among them a smiling Iruka-sensei. His smile did not last for long however, as one of the advisors, an elderly woman, spoke up.

- "That girl should not be allowed to walk around freely, even less be present in this room," she said, pointing at Rieka. "I suggest you remove yourself, young lady."

The smiles in the faces of Naruto and Sakura died too and they gave a questioning look at first Rieka, then their sensei and finally to the Hokage herself. Kakashi however continued to smile, though it was hard to tell because of the mask.

- "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, Lady Hokage," he stated.

Sitting somewhat straighter in her chair Tsunade focused her attention on their group, more precisely on Kakashi and Rieka. The advisors and Iruka was sent out of the room, until only team 7, Rieka and the Hokage remained. By a second thought, Naruto, Sakura and even Rieka were sent out as well.

- "Really? Then talk, I'm listening," Tsunade urged.

- "I wanted my daughter to be a part of the team, like she used to before. It would make our squad complete."

From behind the closed doors they could hear the unhappy advisors muttering about being sent out from the room like they were some newbie ninja and not respected shinobi with years and years of experience. Kakashi had no doubt that each and every one of them was listening in on their conversation as best as they could.

- "Have your daughter decided to talk?" Tsunade asked.

- "She's talking again, and that's always something, though she won't say anything about why she ran away or what she has been doing."

Tsunade sighed heavily.

- "In that case there is nothing I can do. To be doing missions, even low ranked, she would need to wear a Konoha headband. Currently I cannot trust her with one," Tsunade explained.

- "But I don't think that the problem is that she don't want to tell us, I think it is more that she is unable to do so!"

Leaning back in her chair Tsunade looked at Kakashi, silently urging him to explain himself. Kakashi swallowed, suddenly feeling like a nervous academy-student getting tested on his homework.

- "I talked to her this very morning, and she was very specific in saying that she couldn't tell me. Not that she _wouldn't_, but _couldn't. _I suspect that Uchiha Itachi has done something to stop her from revealing his secrets."

It sounded weak and pathetic even in his own ears. The look Lady Tsunade was giving him gave him no reason to change that judgment.

- "Look, what if he… came up with some sort of jutsu or something to stop her from revealing his secrets?" he added weakly, realizing that it wasn't the strongest argument.

Slowly Tsunade leaned forward in her seat, meeting his gaze with somewhat sad eyes.

- "Kakashi, I have examined her myself before I put her under the chakra-sealing jutsu. If there were an active jutsu on her I would have noticed it.

- "But…" Kakashi objected, but fell silent realizing that there were few other arguments he could make in the matter.

Tsunade sighed, seeming honestly sad that she could not grant his wishes.

- "For all we know, she could might as well be acting and hiding the same evil that Uchiha Itachi showed when he murdered his own clan. I can't risk something like that happening again," Tsunade explained, with the voice of someone very old and very tired.

Kakashi could feel his shoulders slouch in resignation. Things were not going to be like they used to be. Then again, back then he had refused to really count Rieka as part of the team, trying his outmost to protect her from any potential danger there might be. The irony now was that he would give anything to have her on the team, but he was not allowed.

- "The jutsu keeping her chakra sealed away are not fool proof," she continued. "It can be broken. Frankly, I'm surprised that she did not manage to break free from it yesterday when she fought Anko. To send her out for missions would mean further risking that she breaks it. As long as I can't trust her I can't risk something like that happening."

Unsettled by his inability to control the situation, needing to fight but not having anyone to fight, Kakashi took a deep breath and tried to calm down. His daughter was a safety risk to the village. His sweet and innocent little daughter, who had been crying in his arms as late as yesterday, might just be acting to hide the evil that the elder Uchiha brother had planted there.

Problem was that he didn't believe any of that. He knew, without any shade of doubt, that his daughter was not capable of the crimes that people tried to accuse her of. Somehow he would have to prove that to the others.


	11. A decission made

**Sorry about the delay in updating, and I am also sorry about the bad quality of this chapter. I'm trying to work around a writer's block right now, and this is actually the best of three tries at this chapter so far... **

**Just to make things clear, this chapter is for last week's update. I have next chapter halfway finished and will hopefully update again tomorrow or the day after that. **

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Despite the beautiful day Rieka felt cold as she stood by the gate, seeing her father and his team off on their first official mission as a team again. She knew that they were going to the Sand, and she knew that it had been a sudden change of plans, but that was all that she knew.

Something must have happened. Waiting outside the mission room she had noticed a woman running through the hall and storming into the room, shouting something about the Akatsuki. And now her father was being sent away. She didn't like it.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder and she tensed slightly before she realized who it was. Her uncle was there with her, having been asked to look after her while her father was away. That was another thing she didn't like. The stern-looking head of the Hyuga-clan intimidated her. While she hated to keep things from her father she knew that he was safe and kind and that he most likely would understand her if she could just explain it to him. Uncle Hiashi had an aura about him that just demanded respect and truthfulness, as if he was trying to draw her secrets out of her. Which, she guessed, really was what he should be doing.

- "Hopefully this won't be too long sweetie," her father explained to her. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Be nice to your uncle. And try to stay out of trouble, will you?"

Though his tone was light the look in his eye was serious. He didn't like leaving her behind any more than she liked being left behind. There were too much going on right now and though she hadn't confided in him like he had asked her to he had still drawn his own conclusions about her situation.

- "I will," she promised, accepting his hug as she did so, silently wondering what other trouble she could possibly get herself into.

- "Good. Hiashi-san has promised that he will look after you, and Anko's still around too even if you don't really like her."

In other words; "you're safe here, don't worry. Whatever enemies you may have they can't reach you here." She wished she could tell him how wrong he was but instead opted for a smile, trying to calm him down. The last thing he needed was to worry about her all the time, which would probably result in him getting injured or even murdered.

They headed off and Hiashi steered her away from the gate and towards the Hyuga compound by a gentle hand on her shoulder. Rieka looked over her shoulder a last time, seeing her father turn away to leave the village alongside Naruto and Sakura. She opened her mouth to tell him not to go, that it was too dangerous to send this particular team to the Sand when the Akatsuki was around, but her throat constricted around the words and she remained silent. Civilians and shinobi alike glared after them, whispering about how reckless the Hokage was being and what they really thought should be done about "that girl". Rieka lowered her eyes to the ground and tried to ignore them, tears stinging in her eyes.

Uncalled memories of her time with Itachi came to her mind. She tried to ignore them and push them away, but they attacked her ruthlessly. Memories of sleeping under the stars, of walking, of training and traveling around through the countries to follow the orders of the mysterious leader of the organization. Despite what people thought that had been a happy time of hers. She missed it. Now she was caught up in the middle of secrecy and plotting that went too far above her head for her to know exactly what was going on around her.

What she did know was that the Akatsuki were after something called the Jinchuriki. From listening to Itachi-sensei and Kisame-san she knew that Naruto-kun was one of these Jinchuriki. She had also come to realize that Gaara, who she had seen fighting Sasuke in the chuunin exam almost three years ago, was also a Jinchuriki.

Gaara was from the Sand. Akatsuki was in the Sand, from what little she had managed to overhear of the mission briefing for her father, Sakura and Naruto. They were practically delivering Naruto to the Akatsuki on a silver platter.

What she knew was important. She realized that much, and yet she could not tell anyone about it. When she tried her throat constricted like someone was strangling her and the sealing at the back of her tongue burned.

The same thing had happened earlier this morning, when she had tried to tell her father that the real enemy was not hiding outside the village-walls but was safely protected in the highest part of the village hierarchy. She hadn't been able to draw even one breath to tell him and the seal in the back of her mouth had burned, effectively stopping her from spilling any secrets. He who had put the seal there, Danzo, did not want her to reveal anything about Itachi-sensei, as that would risk giving away secrets that had been kept secret ever since the massacre of the Uchiha-clan.

Hiashi led her to a guest room in his house, near the rooms of Hinata and Hanabi. The two girls watched curiously at her but said nothing. As soon as she was left alone Rieka sat down on her bed and glared at the wall, as if it was responsible for the situation she now found herself in.

Naruto, Sakura and her father might be heading straight into a trap set by the Akatsuki.

She might be the only one who realized this.

A part of her wondered if Itachi-sensei had arranged for her being back in the village in time for this to happen. Had he meant for her to tell everyone, and thus stopping this from happening? If so she had failed him.

Hopelessly she stared into the wall, unable to come up with a solution to her dilemma. She didn't know whom she could trust that was high enough within the village to deal with Danzo. What if the Hokage, righteous and nice as she seemed, was already in it? The last one had certainly seemed trustworthy enough and had still known what was going on. And even if she had felt like she could trust someone with all of this, she had no way of telling them.

She spent the majority of her day like that, staring into the wall and searching fruitlessly for a solution, only leaving her room for meals.

The second day passed by much the same, until Hanabi, under the orders of her father, dragged her out into the garden and tried to engage her in some sparring. Though she did not spar she did enjoy the sunlight and the afternoon was spent outside, enjoying it, under the supervision of the Hyuga-clan.

Early in the morning of the third day, just when Rieka had gotten seated on the veranda to enjoy the sunlight, Neji came to her. He stopped in the doorway, seemingly hesitating, looking at her. Rieka watched him from the corner of her eye, her face otherwise turned away to face the sunlight.

- "I'm being sent out on a mission to Sand," he told her finally.

That caught her attention and she turned to face him, eager to hear what else he had to say. Seeing that he had her attention he continued on;

- "It's as reinforcements for your father. Hokage-sama got a bad omen about the whole mission and suspects something is going to go wrong."

Immediately fear gripped her. She had been afraid that something would go wrong and now the Hokage seemed to think so too. _Something is wrong, really, really wrong! _

Noticing her distress Neji took a step forward and knelt in front of her, hands on her shoulders, looking her into the eyes.

- "Are you ok? Do you know something about this?"

Guilt clawed at her heart as she slowly shook her head. She couldn't look into his eyes and lowered them to the ground instead. Her fears were coming true and still she was helpless to do anything about it.

- "Good luck on your mission," she whispered. "Be careful."

Giving her a suspicious look he nodded, squeezing her shoulder lightly in comfort before standing and heading back into the house. Vaguely she thought that he probably would talk to her uncle if he hadn't fully believed her lie, but for the moment she was too caught up in fears of what had gone wrong.

_Tsunade-sama must have received new intelligence_, she thought, unaware of the fact that the "bad omen" Neji had told her about really was a winning lottery ticket of Tsunade's. _Something must have gone wrong. Was it a trap after all? _Was her father ok? Was he injured, or was he… She shook her head violently, leaving the thought unfinished. Her father was too strong to get killed, even if the Akatsuki was luring him into a trap. At least that was what she hoped.

When Hiashi joined her on the veranda an hour later Rieka had already made a decision. She had cried and cursed her situation, ravaging her mind for anything that could help her, and finally she had decided to take a chance. It came with risks, for there were still secrets she did not want to reveal, but as of now she really thought it was her only hope.

So when Hiashi stopped in the doorway, just like Neji had earlier the same day, Rieka stood up and faced him, arms wrapped around her middle in a desperate attempt to reassure herself.

Though Hiashi had initially come to speak to his niece, determined to get her to speak, he quickly realized that whatever battle he had prepared himself for had already been won, without his interference. Despite the tearstained face he had rarely seen a child display such determination as his niece did right then.

- "Will you take me to see the Hokage?" she asked, her voice small and somewhat vulnerable.

- "Of course," he nodded.

They did not speak on their walk through the village, both of them ignoring the glares of the villagers. Soon enough they reached the Hokage tower and they knocked on the door of the Hokage's office. When bid to do so they entered, and the Hokage looked up from her paperwork, which looked suspiciously much like a newspaper.

- "Yes?" she inquired, looking at them with suddenly very serious eyes.

Rieka took a deep breath to calm her raging nerves.

- "I want to see Inoichi-san," she said.


	12. The forest

**I tried to make this chapter somewhat interesting, but I'm afraid it came across as boring. Still working through that writer's block... **

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Rieka shivered as her hands were tied to the back of the chair she was sitting on. Ibiki was nothing but gentle as he bound her, though the ropes were also firm enough to make sure there was no way for her to get away either. Being bound made her feel vulnerable and defenseless, feelings she did not enjoy on the best of days and this was definitely not one of her good days.

- "Done," Ibiki stated, finishing off the final knot.

She was now bound securely to the chair, anchored by her legs, arms and her middle. Tensing she tested the ropes only to realize that there were no leeway what so ever. She was stuck, and the fact that her hands were bound separately made it impossible for her to perform any jutsu to get loose, even if she had not already had Tsunade-sama's chakra-seal on her.

- "Good," Tsunade-sama spoke from where she was standing at the door of the small room they were occupying.

They were in one of the interrogation-rooms of the Konoha Intelligence Division headquarters. Rieka was sitting in one of the two chairs while the other one was occupied by a serious looking Inoichi. Tsunade was by the door and Hiashi, who had refused to leave his niece's side, was leaned against the wall closest to the door.

As Ibiki stepped away from her Tsunade left her post by the door and came to stand in front of Rieka, looking down at her.

- "So kiddo, you've promised to share something with us now, correctly?"

- "Yes," Rieka nodded, swallowing nervously.

- "Let me make this clear," Tsunade said, a warning tone in her voice, "you may not be stuck in that Mind Reading Amplification Machine, but that does not mean that I'll allow any stunt from your side. If this proves to be some sort of trick from your side, then I promise you that you'll find yourself locked into one of the cells and subjugated to things you can't even imagine in your worst nightmares, understood?"

Not trusting her voice Rieka nodded silently, afraid of what was to come but also too afraid of the alternative not to go through with this. _It's for dad, _she reminded herself. _I need to tell them that dad and now also Neji-kun might be going straight into a trap. _

Once again testing the ropes, Tsunade-sama's way of making sure that she would not physically attack the one entering her mind, Rieka sighed deeply and tried to relax. She wasn't even sure if this was going to work. The seal on her tongue made it impossible for her to tell anyone about the secrets she knew, but this wasn't telling, was it? And while she hoped to be able to show them enough to get her message across there were still things she did not want to reveal – things she had promised Itachi-sensei to keep secret.

Feeling like she had said what she should Tsunade stepped aside and let Inoichi take her place. Rieka and he locked gazes for a moment, trying to judge where they had the other. Inoichi knew that Rieka could resist his mind reading jutsus, as she had done so repeatedly since she was returned to the village, and frankly this sudden compliance made no sense to him. The rational part of him insisted that it could be a trap, while the less rational side doubted that the girl he had once taught would ever be capable of luring him into a trap in her own mind. Then again, he wasn't so sure that she was the little girl anymore.

- "You ready?" Inoichi asked.

Rieka nodded nervously.

When Inoichi began to form the hand signs for his jutsu she almost panicked, and she said, though she had already tried to explain it several times before,

- "I'll try to show you the way."

Inoichi nodded, finished the signs and then placed his hand on her forehead, just above the chakra-seal.

At first he was met with the resistance that he had tried so fruitlessly to penetrate earlier. He was standing in a forest, mist lingering all around him, making it nearly impossible to see more than a couple of meters ahead of him. Bushes grew all around him, getting tangled with his feet and tearing his clothes as he stumbled forward. Then slowly the mist faded away and the undergrowth didn't seem quite as clingy as it once had.

Suddenly he noticed a path, one he was sure had not been there before. Taking the cue he began to follow it further into the forest. Already this was more success than he had experienced before, which boded good.

As he walked he could see shadows dancing behind and in between the tree trunks. Memories, he realized. Normally he would have jumped at them and forced his way through them. But that was not his objective this time. This time he was supposed to let the mind guide him to the information it wanted to share with him. He had no doubt that should he try to take as much as one step wrong he would be thrown out and find himself fighting the bushes again.

The path winded on deeper into the forest. Occasionally the path would lead him through one of the shadows and fragments of the memory would reveal themselves to him. A child laughing, sensations of sun against his skin, the ache in his muscles after a long day of training – all of it disappearing almost before he could identify it.

Since none of the fragments made any sense he concluded that it was just distractions of the mind. As talented as she was Rieka had no experience in guiding anyone through her mind and so this was as new to her as it was to him.

Eventually the path led him into a clearing. The sky above him was full of stars and he realized he was lying with his back towards a tree trunk, his head rested on a backpack. Through half lidded eyes he watched two figures slowly becoming clearer until he identified them both as the Akatsuki criminals that had infiltrated the village, Uchiha Itachi and his companion Kisame.

This was familiar territory to him and he allowed the memory to flow over him, allowed himself to see everything through the eyes of Rieka as she had seen it. The affectionate feeling he got when looking at Uchiha Itachi was repulsing while the weariness for the other one seemed healthy and normal enough.

- "When are we going to go after the Jinchuriki again?" Kisame asked, impatiently.

Itachi's eyes revealed nothing in the light of the fire that separated the two from the girl they were traveling with.

- "Right now there is no point in going after the nine tails. He's in the company of Jiraya, the sannin, and as long as that is the case we should stay back and await our chance," Itachi explained, his voice emotionless.

- "But the others are already targeting their Jinchuriki! We should do the same!"

- "Patience. We will get to him when the time is right."

- "When the time is right huh? Like with that brother of yours…"

The rest was lost on Inoichi as the memory became blurry from there, the voices becoming unintelligible mumbling. A moment later he felt himself being physically pushed away and he found himself on his knees in the forest again, gasping for breath. What was wrong? He hadn't done anything, why was he thrown out? And why was he so breathless? That had never happened to him before.

Before he could come up with any answers he felt himself being pulled forward again, along a new path. This time shadows kept some distance to him and soon he found himself in another clearing. He was sitting at a table of what appeared to be a small tea-house. Right next to him loomed a figure he recognized as Uchiha Itachi, only bigger from the perspective of a young girl rather than Inoichi's own adult perspective. Across the table was Kisame, a cruel smile visible behind the collar of his cloak.

At the table next to theirs people were talking. Inoichi could tell from the dialect that they were somewhere in the Sand. Rieka in the memory was looking around nervously and not focusing entirely on anything. He could tell that she was nervous about something.

_Can't get caught. _

The single thought repeated itself over and over to him as Rieka/he eyed people around them with suspicion. Though she was sitting calmly enough by the table he could tell that her pulse was beating rapidly and her breathing was uneven.

_Can't let sensei get caught. _

That confused him for a moment but before he could think any more about it the figure right next to him was talking, saying something about calming down.

This time when the push came he fought it, trying to remain in this memory. But whatever Itachi was saying it came out as mumblings Inoichi had no chance of understanding. The push was not only a push, it felt like hands were gripping him, dragging him away, and when he fought it they encircled his throat, strangling him. His vision became bleary and for a moment everything turned black around him.

When he came to again he was back in the forest, lying down beneath a bush. As he slowly sat up the bush somehow seemed to move away from him, giving him space. Still panting he was relieved when there were no hands gripping him or strangling him.

The relief was short lived as he was dragged forward again by an invisible force that he now recognized as the mind he was in. Already he could feel those hands returning, trying to force him away. He was pushed along the short path and suddenly found himself the same clearing, watching the shadows move and talk soundlessly.

Despite the hands trying to drag him away he found himself traveling forward, brought there by the sheer intensity the mind.

- "… The one tailed jinchuriki is the Kazekage huh? This should be interesting…"

Kisame's voice toned out again as the hands got stronger and stronger, dragging him away despite the struggling mind. Inoichi fought too, fighting to get back to the memory, to penetrate deeper into this mind but the only result was the hands gripping tighter and tighter around his throat.

Something was wrong, Inoichi realized. He could feel the mind around him fighting to keep him there but another force, something foreign, was trying to force him away. Was there some sort of trap after all, one he had failed to detect? But no, that should be impossible. And this didn't feel like a trap anyway, more like someone was trying to keep him from coming across something important.

With the memory fading away in front of him Inoichi reached out desperately with his own mind, trying to identify the source of the hands that kept him from seeing the memory. Just as he thought he had found something to cling on to he felt himself being pushed again the world around him went black.

When he came to again he was lying on the cold stone floor of the interrogation room, Tsunade-sama leaning over him. His body was aching and he was panting for breath, only to realize that the hands that had been strangling him was now gone.

- "She's not breathing!" someone called from somewhere else.

Immediately Tsunade disappeared out if his sight and he was left staring at the roof, contemplating what had just happened. The sound of someone cursing brought his attention away from what he had just seen and he slowly sat up to see what it was all about.

The chair in which Rieka had been sitting had apparently somehow fallen backwards and now the Hokage herself was leaning over the girl, her hands glowing with chakra as she tried to make the girl breathe again.

Never before had Tsunade seen anything like what had just taken place in front of her. At first it had seemed to go according to plan, but then both Inoichi and Rieka had started gasping, as if they had trouble breathing. Minutes later Inoichi had collapsed on the floor and Tsunade had, cursing her stupidity, knocked the chair over in the process of reaching the Yamanaka.

At first she had been sure that it had been a trap after all. Somewhere in the head of that innocent looking girl was a trap designed to kill anyone entering her mind. A quick check showed that Inoichi was unharmed but breathless. Someone, or something, had tried to asphyxiate him – which would have killed him had it continued on for much longer.

However now, leaning over the girl in question Tsunade was not as sure as to what had just happened. A simple mind-trap should not, as far as she knew, kill the host-mind as well as the intruder. And since Inoichi was already safe and sound outside of the mind Rieka to should be fine. But no. Instead she was suffocating.

Somehow the air pipe was closing in on itself. Strings of chakra were forcing the pipe to close. Having identified that much, Tsunade firstly focused on opening the air pipe. As soon as it opened the girl below her drew a deep, desperate breath. Several more followed as Tsunade helped keeping the throat functioning as naturally as possible, despite the strings of chakra trying to work against her.

When she felt positive that Rieka was no longer in any immediate danger she focused on the strings instead, mindful not to lose focus on the now somewhat even breathing either. The strings where foreign chakra, not that that was any surprise to Tsunade. One's own chakra did usually not try to suffocate you.

Suddenly aware of the attention they were receiving the strings started to withdraw, trying to escape her notice. Tsunade followed them relentlessly until they all nestled together in one point, not far above where the throat had been constricting. _A seal? _She thought, confused. There was no chance that she would have missed something like that when she checked the girl for her failed interrogation with Ibiki and Inoichi. _So it must have gotten there afterwards, then. Probably somewhere in between being left in her father's care and now, _she concluded.

Finishing off her healing jutsu now when there was no danger to do so, Tsunade looked around the room. Inoichi was sitting propped against a wall, pale but obviously ok. Ibiki was, much to Tsunade's surprise, kneeling next to Rieka, Hiashi standing right behind him. All three of them had worried looks on their faces.

- "She's fine for now," she told them. "I'll take her to the hospital so that I can keep a further eye on her. Inoichi, as soon as possible I want a report on what happened."

With that Tsunade lifted the girl up in her arms, heading towards the hospital, Hiashi following her. Ibiki hesitated, torn between the urge to make sure that the girl he had come to care so much for was ok and the duty to stay with Inoichi. Finally duty won and he turned on the blonde, just as he was standing up;

- "What just happened?"


	13. Corruption

**Again, sorry that I am late to update. I'll try to write another chapter to update with this weekend to make it up to you guys. **

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Mitokado Homura was not pleased. Not at all. Secrets that had best remain secrets were dangerously close to being revealed. He and the others had worked hard and made decisions that the former Hokage, Homura's foolishly kindhearted childhood friend, and the current one would not have been able to make. All of it had been with the best interest of the village in mind, of course. However he seriously doubted that novices like the fifth Hokage, with her being the student of Sarutobi Hiruzen after all, would be able to see that.

Across the table was Utatane Koharu, looking as displeased as Homura felt. The two of them, regarded as the Konoha Council and trusted advisors of the Hokage, had a lot at risk. If the current Hokage found out what they had done, then they would most likely lose everything. And to think that all of it was because of one little girl that had somehow stumbled across the truth.

Shimura Danzo entered the room with the soft sound of the wooden door sliding open and then closed behind him, otherwise his entrance was soundless. The eye that was not hidden behind bandage scanned the room quickly, searching for potential threats, and then settled on the two elders, noticing a pot of tea that lay forgotten in between them.

- "You've heard," he stated.

Homura nodded as the other man settled with them by the table.

- "Tsunade came by a while ago to tell us that the girl was going to talk," Koharu answered, her voice carefully emptied of any trace of the fear she might be feeling.

- "I thought you had made sure that the girl would not talk," Homura added, somewhat spitefully.

The faintest trace of a smirk was visible on Danzo's face before he spoke, effectively calming the other two.

- "She didn't. The mind reader may have gotten some small piece of information out of her, but I doubt it. For now, we're safe."

- "For now? And what happens next time, Danzo?" Homura questioned. "We were lucky enough the first time around that the girl did not reveal anything. You promised that you would make sure she would not speak in the future either, and look where we are!"

Though Homura's voice was upset Danzo remained calm enough. He had everything under control and had no reason to fear. Not anymore.

- "I am well aware that it was only luck on our side that kept the girl quiet last time. I have placed a curse seal on her to keep her from speaking up, which is what saved us this time around."

- "And you are sure that there is no way that she will be able to reveal anything as long as the seal is there?" Koharu asked.

Calmly Danzo poured himself a cup of tea and brought it to his lips, sipping carefully. Grimacing he put the cold tea down again.

- "The girl is not the biggest problem right now. If she tries to reveal anything the seal will kill her."

- "Then what is the problem, Danzo?" Homura wondered.

Something hateful flashed across Danzo's one visible eye before it disappeared and the cold, calculating look they were used to seeing returned.

- "Lady Tsunade is now aware of the seal," he admitted.

Silence fell over the room as the other two stared at him. Danzo met their gazes, refusing to admit to having done anything wrong.

- "She knows about the seal?" Homura repeated. "I thought once it became clear that the girl would not speak you waited to interfere until _after_ she was released, precisely so Tsunade _would not_ find out about us?"

- "I did. However Tsunade chose to be present when the mind reader entered the girl's mind. When my seal activated and attempted to suffocate the girl before she could reveal anything, Tsunade and her medical jutsu was there and somehow managed to suppress the seal, for the moment."

Homura stared at Danzo, silently questioning the latter's sanity. Tsunade may be a novice at the post as Hokage but she was certainly an element to be taken seriously when it came to medical matters.

Though Danzo would never admit it his thoughts were the same. It had been impossible to simply kill the girl while she was being watched so thoroughly by the Intelligence Division, so he had had to bid his time. When Tsunade in another display if weakness decided to let the girl go Danzo had known that he would have to act quickly or risk everything being revealed. So he had placed the seal on her, hoping that Tsunade would never think to look for something placed upon the girl after her arrival to the village.

- "Will she be able to do anything about the seal? Undo it? Trace it back to you?" asked Koharu.

- "I doubt so. The seal is tied to me and my life, so as long as I live the seal will stay intact. It should be impossible to trace it back to me, even for someone with Tsunade's experience."

They sighed in relief, realizing that for the moment there was no danger to fight. The youngsters may not be able to understand the choices their elders had made but as long as they were not aware of them they would not question it.

- "However, I do think that it would be foolish not to take further precautions. Were the girl to reveal anything all of our work would be at risk. I have my men following her every step from now on. If they deem the situation necessary they will remove the threat."

If either of them felt uncomfortable discussing the possible assassination of a young girl then neither of them showed it. They had worse sins on their coincidence without it troubling them.

- "That would indeed be the wisest course of action," Homura agreed.

While her advisors were plotting Tsunade was in her office, for once completely sober and focused on what she was doing. In front of her lay a scroll on which she was taking notes of her own discoveries in trying to save Rieka's life. They were painstakingly short and she wished she had more to go on.

A knock on the door interrupted her brooding. Upon permission to do so Inoichi entered the office, holding a scroll in his hand.

- "My report," he told her. "It's not much I'm afraid, but it is what it is."

Tsunade accepted the scroll and quickly scanned through the content, leaving Inoichi to stand somewhat awkwardly by her desk. When she was finished she put the scroll down beside her own notes, mentally comparing the two. At least Inoichi's suspicions looked a lot like hers.

- "She knows something," she stated, referring to Rieka. "She knows something that someone doesn't want us to find out."

- "It seems so," Inoichi agreed. "And I'm afraid that this someone is ready to kill, should it be necessary in order to keep it secret."

Though she did not say anything Tsunade nodded in agreement, trying to see what else they could gather from the few clues they had. Inoichi nervously shifted his weight from one foot to another.

- "I think the point of this was to warn us," he blurted out ungracefully.

When Tsunade just gave him a questioning look he continued on, trying to explain his thoughts.

- "I know that a lot of things were revealed earlier but so far we've been too busy to give much thought to what Rieka-chan was trying to tell us. I think she specifically wanted to show me that the Akatsuku were after the Jinchuriki and that they knew that both Naruto-kun and Gaara-sama were Jinchuriki. Those were the memories she choose to show me."

- "She suspects it's a trap. Naruto could be walking straight into their arms!"

Cursing Tsunade flew up from her table and called for Shizune to gather as many jonin as possible and send them to her office immediately.

- "We knew that the Akatsuki were after the Jinchuriki," she muttered, walking nervously across her office. "We knew it! But I thought it would be fine to send him on this mission, as they would already have one Jinchuriki to battle. If it's a trap then they'll be ready to fight him too!"

Fifteen minutes later a group of five Jonins were gathered in Tsunade's office, each of them attentively awaiting their orders. Tsunade hesitated. Should she wait and try to find more people, or should she send them on their way as soon as possible? Deciding that Team Kakashi already had several days on them she opened her mouth to speak.

- "A few days ago the Sand's Kazekage was kidnapped and we sent our team Kakashi to help with the situation. Now an inside source suspects that this may be a trap by the Akatsuki to catch Uzumaki Naruto. I want you five to go to Sand as quickly as you can and ensure the safety of Naruto, is that understood?"

With a copy of the mission scroll Team Kakashi had been given they were sent away. Through her window Tsunade watched them leave, hoping that they would not be too late. Naruto could already be dead, or succumbed to whatever the Akatsuki wanted the Jinchuriki for. If they were lucky though, this was just a false alarm due to the fears of a thirteen year old girl.

- "I don't like this," Tsunade admitted out loud.

- "Me neither," Inoichi, who had never left the room, agreed. "There's too much going on right now."

- "We've got Orochimaru and Sasuke, Akatsuki being after Naruto and the other Jinchuriki and now this mysterious secret worth to kill for that Rieka knows," Tsunade summarized. "And that's just on top of our normal load of missions."

Sighing Tsunade sank down in her chair, wishing for a bottle of sake to dampen her headache. How was she supposed to deal with so many problems at once? Why did everything have to happen at the same time?

- "Sadly I think this might just be the top of the iceberg," Inoichi commented, breaking her out of her thoughts.

- "What do you mean?" Tsunade asked, suspecting that she knew but wanting to hear it anyway.

Inoichi shifted his weight again and glanced around the room as if trying to make sure that no one was listening in. Tsunade knew there were people listening to every word they said, but those were the ears of the most trusted ANBU-members she had. Still, she made a discreet sign with her hand, which went unnoticed by Inoichi, confident that they would withdraw enough.

- "Before I could interrogate Rieka-chan you yourself made sure that she was physically unharmed at that there were no traps on her body. If that seal had been there them, you would have noticed, Tsunade-sama."

- "And from that you draw the same conclusion that I do; that seal was placed upon her afterwards, by someone within the walls of Konoha."

- "Yes I do."

So, both of them had deducted that someone was acting from their own ranks, trying to cover up something. This did not bode well, Tsunade thought for herself. They couldn't deal with everything else and corruption.

- "Can nothing be done about the seal?" Inoichi asked.

- "No," Tsunade shook her head. "Any attempt to remove the seal results in its activation, meaning that I can't remove it without risking the girl's life. There's no saying what will happen if the seal is pushed too hard. It may even alter its way of murder."

- "Poor girl. I know Rieka to be a curious though sensitive girl. To be under this sort of pressure must be unbearable."

- "Probably. Though much of it could have been avoided if she had just told us all of this before the seal was placed on her."

Inoichi sighed, thinking the same. If only Rieka had trusted them enough to let him into her mind from the beginning then so much of this could have been avoided. He had given it much thought before and in the light of these recent events it did not look any better.

- "If this is anywhere near as big as it seems with what little we know then I don't really blame her," he answered Tsunade.

The only answer he got was a raised eyebrow. He decided to elaborate.

- "It's just indices but I think it may be a bit too much of them. Rieka did not have a very good relationship with her father. From what little I know they barely spoke to each other. This changed when the Third placed Rieka on the same team as Naruto and the others. Her relationship with her father was improving, and then she just ran away."

Still Tsunade said nothing, so Inoichi continued eagerly, hoping that someone else would be able to see what he thought he saw.

- "She had no obvious reason to run away like that. Unless," he paused for effect," she had already then come across what we suspect now. It's possible that she did not feel safe in the village and chose to leave it, because she knew that what she had learned was something that put her in danger."

Tsunade sighed heavily.

- "You just doubled my headache boy."

Inoichi couldn't help but grimace at being referred to as "boy" but didn't say anything about it. Tsunade continued on, seemingly without noticing his grimace.

- "So whatever corruption there is, it's nothing new. It's been there at least since around the same time I became Hokage, maybe even longer."

- "And we should probably assume that whomever are involved are of rank, if the discovery of it was enough to drive her away from the village."

- "Meaning that there are very few trustworthy beyond doubt. We don't know how many there are, or where they are, or whom they are, nothing! They could be anywhere, influencing our every action!"

They sat in silence for a moment, contemplating the horrid picture they had just painted. Fighting a war without knowing whom was enemy and who was friends.

A knock on the door interrupted their thoughts and a team entered to give their mission report to the Hokage. Inoichi excused himself, deciding to go and find Ibiki. His comrade of many years deserved to know take part in their suspicions.


	14. Not alone after all

**This is defenitely not one of my better chapters, but hopefully soon things will start to happen for real! **

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When Rieka woke up her lungs were burning and her throat aching, though she had no idea why. Her mind seemed slow and dull and it took her several minutes to recall what had happened to her. Inoichi in her head, watching her memories. And the sensation of being unable to breathe, almost flying on clouds as she fought to breathe and show Inoichi the memories necessary.

Had she managed to make herself understood? Or had she failed again? How long had she been unconscious? Where was she?

Slowly opening her eyes, just a little as to still appear sleeping, she looked around through her eyelashes. She was in a hospital room. Sterile white everywhere and the typical hospital smell, a mix of medications and illness, reaching her nose. A window on the wall to her right told her that it was dark outside. She had been out for at least a couple of hours then. The majority of a day.

The sound of a door sliding open made her direct her gaze away from the window and instead to the only door of the room, where her uncle was just entering. She noticed that he was carrying a small bag with him. Her bag, she recognized. Was her coming with her things then?

Hiashi took a look at the seemingly unconscious body of his niece and sighed. Silently he put the bag down beside the bed and sat in the visitors chair to the left of the bed. He had only left her side for a short meeting with Tsunade-sama and to get some things for Rieka, as it seemed they wanted to keep her at the hospital at least over the night.

He had been told very little of what had been discovered today. Inoichi had been shown some memories that indicated that the criminal organization called the Akatsuki was about to take action against their village. Hiashi did not know much about this organization, only snippets of information he had caught up here and there. He decided that he should find out whatever he could on them, if his niece was involved with them.

Tsunade had told him that they had taken Rieka's memories seriously and already dealt with the problem. Then there had been an awkward silence between them until Hiashi had asked what had happened to his niece and if she would be ok. The only answer he had gotten was that his niece should be ok and was now in the competent hands of the nurses as the hospital. Hiashi had wanted to ask more questions but the look Tsunade had given him made him stay silent. He already had his suspicions and nothing that had happened today had made him doubt himself.

Rieka had enemies in Konoha. Hiashi was sure of it. Not only those that would naturally look weirdly at her because of her leaving the village, but something else. He was also sure that after today Tsunade-sama had also realized this. Which either meant she did not trust him enough to share the secret with him, or she was that "something else". Either way he did not like the situation and he decided that he should increase the guard he already had to watch her day and night.

Rieka stirred as if she was about to wake up and slowly her eyes fluttered open. Hiashi leaned forward in his chair, taking her hand in his, stroking it comfortingly.

- "It's ok, you're safe here. I'm here," he assured her, needing to comfort this child that was so young and still seemed to carry such a heavy burden. "You're at the hospital; Tsunade-sama saved your life and said that you should be ok."

She opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a low hissing sound. Clearing her throat she managed to say, still sounding somewhat hoarse:

- "Water?"

There was none at the bedside table but he called for a nurse, who quickly ran off to get one. Once she returned Rieka drank slowly but eagerly.

- "Tsunade-sama said that you were almost strangled, so if your lungs and throat are a bit sore that is perfectly normal reactions to what happened to you. It should disappear in a few ours or in the morning at the latest."

Rieka nodded and slurped down the last of the cool water before she put the glass away. The nurse stood somewhat awkwardly in the room, unsure of if she should leave or if she should do something else.

- "Do you want something to eat? I could get you some soup or something if your throat is very sore?"

When Rieka nodded the nurse smiled and disappeared out of the room again. Once she was out Rieka turned towards her uncle.

- "What happened?" she asked, her voice only slightly husky.

- "Something went wrong when Yamanaka-san was in your mind," Hiashi explained. "Tsunade-sama wouldn't tell many details but she assured me that they had gotten the message from the memories you tried to show them and that they had already acted to fix it."

Sighing in relief Rieka leaned back into her pillows and looked up at the roof. She had done it! She had found a way to tell them and hopefully her dad wouldn't die because of her secrecy! Suddenly her shoulders felt a lot less heavy.

- "Anyway, I…" Hiashi spoke up, somewhat hesitant. "I realize that there are more going on here than what is obvious and I… I just wanted you to know that you're not alone."

His hand clutched at hers comfortingly and she stared at him in surprise, not expecting this. Hiashi managed a small smile, which looked foreign on his otherwise stern face.

- "You've got the clan behind you, ok? You're part of the family."

In that moment Rieka could have cried. She had felt so alone and now here she was told that she did not only have her uncle's support, but the whole clan's. And she hadn't even said anything about Danzo but it seemed like they had understood anyway, at least some of it. Though it was obvious that she was still not safe from him it was a good feeling knowing that someone else was looking out for her.

Instead of crying she forced the tears away and smiled at her uncle, letting him know that she appreciated the gesture. A few minutes later the nurse returned with some soup for her and Rieka suddenly realized that she was hungry!

She fell asleep again that night feeling safe in the knowledge that she still had people backing her up, even if none of them realized exactly what they were up against. Hiashi sat in the chair until he was sure that she was sleeping and then he left the room, silently as to not wake her up again. A short walk through the corridors led him to the exit, from where he could see a tree standing not too far away from the window of Rieka's room. Casually he went there and leant against it, looking up to the sky through the branches of the three.

- "You there?" he asked quietly.

The slight rustling of leaves was his only answer. Hiashi smiled.

- "I'll stay here at the hospital with her tonight," Hiashi explained. "When your shift is over in the morning I want you to inform the others that from now on I want at least two people shadowing her all the time. Is that understood?"

A sound so low that even Hiashi had to strain his ears to hear it came from somewhere above him. Hiashi's smiled did not fade.

- "Good. I want the guards to be as discrete as ever but if she's in danger I want them to step in, no matter what. It doesn't matter who it is that is threatening her, protect her and I will deal with the consequences later. Ok?"

He didn't want to think that the Hokage was one of these unknown enemies in Konoha, but he couldn't take any risks. Either the Hokage was part of this mysterious enemy, or the enemies were other people who were most likely powerful within the village. His people would have to be prepared to fight anyone, even possibly people they had never imagined to consider the enemy.

Judging from how close she had been to actually dying Hiashi felt positive that whoever the enemy was, they would now keep an extra close eye on his niece. Maybe even try to do more, like silencing her for good. So he really hoped that the guards would realize the severity of the situation and do their job properly.

A short while later Hiashi returned inside where he fell into a restless sleep in the uncomfortable visitor's chair. He dreamt of shadows lurking right behind him and then disappearing every time he turned around, just before he could see their faces. He woke up in the early hours of the morning, sweaty and panting. Unable to fall back asleep he straightened up in his chair and watched as the sun slowly rose on the sky.

After breakfast a doctor came to see how Rieka was and after a short exam declared her ready to go home. Together Rieka and Hiashi left the hospital, Hiashi noticing that there were now two people hiding in the three outside the hospital and following them on their walk through the city.

Still feeling exhausted from her experience Rieka went to her room and quickly fell asleep. Hiashi meanwhile held a short meeting with a few of the clan members he trusted the most, informing them of the situation and telling them to be extra cautious.

Merely a couple of hours later he was informed that they were being watched. Someone was hiding in a three outside the compound in which the Hyugas lived, disappearing as soon as someone of them tried to near the figure and then appearing somewhere else shortly afterwards.

Skilled ninja were watching them. Hiashi did not like how threatened he felt in that moment.


	15. Daddy is back!

**Sorry for the delay! My internet was cut off and since I had to look some things up for the writing of this chapter I couldn't even write!**

**This chapter may be a bit messy, since it has mostly been written since yesterday, while I've been reading the manga and looking things up at Narutopedia to get things correctly. Also there are a lot going on in the later part of the chapter and I'm not sure if I managed to get it out the way I wanted to. Let me know what you think and I'll rewrite it if it's necessery, ok?**

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A group of five smoothly ran through the trees, their steps quiet and slower than many of them were comfortable with. They had an important mission and in order to carry that out they would have to save their energy for the possibility of battle rather than getting there as soon as possible. That said all of them felt the urge to hurry up or they might arrive too late to do any fighting anyway.

When the forest they were traveling through came to an end and the desert appeared ahead of them they silently increased their pace. The sun shone down on them making them feel uncomfortably hot in their uniforms and causing their Konoha-headbands to shimmer. None of them complained, too focused on their mission to much mind the discomfort.

Despite their faster pace it seemed to take an eternity before they saw mountains in the distance. Their pace increased further. Ever so slowly the mountains grew bigger and they could see a thin passage through the cliffs. Movements on the ground in front of the cliffs alerted them to the presence of guards and they all drew a breath of relief. Had the village been destroyed in a battle between jinchuriki and the Akatsuki there would not have been any guards.

They came to a halt in front of the passageway and one of them stepped forward.

- "We're here as reinforcements for team Kakashi and team Gai."

For some reason that they did not understand that made the guards snicker. They glared around defensively, challenging the laughers to share the joke with them.

- "You should go to the hospital then," the guard said, waving them through, smiling.

Now worried the team continued on, much slower now than they had before. They were going to the hospital? Were they too late anyway? They had run as fast as they dared, thinking it would be foolish to tire themselves out on running to the battle ground and then be too tired to fight. Should they have pressed themselves harder? Was it already too late to help team Kakakshi? And team Gai? A lump was forming in their throats as they imagined those youngsters stiff and cold in death.

Finding their way through the unfamiliar village they soon reached the hospital where they stated their mission to the nurse sitting at the front desk. She smiled at them, much in the same manner the guards had done, and directed them towards a corridor on the second floor, third door on the left. Nervously they followed her directions, hesitating a moment before they knocked the door. A moment later they were told to enter and so they did, unable to hide their surprise at the sight which met them.

There was a single hospital bed in the room, occupied by a very tired looking Kakashi. Seven chairs had been placed out around the bed and were occupied by Uzimaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, team Gai and, maybe the most surprising of all, the Kazekage himself, Gaara of the Sand. Wasn't he supposed to have been kidnapped?

- "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" the blonde asked, bringing them all out of their shock.

The leader of the group shook his head to clear his mind somewhat and bowed to the room in general.

- "We're here on Lady Tsunade's orders as reinforcements for team Kakashi and team Gai, should they have any trouble in their mission to help our allies the Sand village with the kidnapped Kazekage."

Silence followed the statement. Then a female voice spoke up, unnaturally sweet.

- "Aw, isn't that cute? They're here to help us! What would we do if we did not have such strong and amazing men to rely on?"

Laugher filled the room and the newly arrived group blushed, looking anywhere but on the brown haired girl who had spoken. It seemed obvious that they were not needed.

- "We were discussing the possibility of returning to Konoha tomorrow, since our mission here is finished," the pink headed girl spoke once the laughter stilled. "Maybe you who are… _rested_ could help carry Kakashi-san on a stretcher?"

The group nodded at once, despite the teasing, eager to be of some use at least. It was obvious that these two teams had already fought the needed battles and managed just fine on their own.

- "Sakura… I don't need a stretcher!" Kakashi objected from the bed.

A furious look came across the girls face and the group of five quickly left the room, hearing the sweet looking girl yell profanities at her sensei behind them.

The next morning the group gathered outside the village, in the shadows of the cliffs surrounding the village, preparing to say goodbye. Kakashi was, despite his protests, resting on a stretcher. It would slow them down a day or two on their way back to the village but, as Sakura reasoned, it would make it possible for Kakashi to get some much needed rest on the way there. In the light of her medical knowledge, not to mention her furious temper and deathly fists, no one dared to object.

When everyone had said their farewells the group headed back to Konoha.

Despite the stretcher it only took them three and a half day to arrive at the gate of Konoha, the travel soon developing into a race between Gai and Lee and the rest of the group trying to hang on as good as they could. By the time they reached the gates Kakashi was feeling sea-sick, something which was a new experience to him, especially on land far from any water, from his all but smooth ride on the stretcher.

Immediately Kakashi was transported to the hospital where he got checked by the doctor on duty and then given a room with a single bed to rest in. No longer suffering from the constant bumping of shinobi traveling faster than what they should with a stretcher in between them he soon fell asleep, exhausted from his excessive use of his sharingan eye and then the travel.

When he woke up again it was dark outside, the only light in the room being that of the moon shimmering in through the window. His body ached and felt heavy. A lock of his hair had fallen into his eyes but however he tried he couldn't even bring his hand up to brush it away.

The room only had an underlying stench of hospital as someone had placed flowers on his nightstand. He was grateful for the distraction as he had long ago learned to hate hospitals with all their sterile and chemical smells. Briefly he wondered who had placed the flowers there, before he felt his eyelids grow steadily heavier and darkness consumed him once again.

Birds were chirping outside and sunlight were shining in through the slightly ajar window when he woke up the second time. Kakashi's eye slowly focused in on the roof and he moaned silently. He felt extremely tired and heavy in his body.

Barely had his vision cleared when a blonde head appeared in his field of vision, blue eyes looking down at him.

- "He's awake," the familiar voice of Naruto said.

- "Here again?" Kakashi asked, remembering the last time he woke up and having hoped it was a dream. He really hated hospitals.

Suddenly the door slid open and another blonde entered the room.

- "Good work Kakashi," Tsunade said, stepping up to his bed, followed by Shizune.

- "Tsunade-sama," Kakashi greeted her.

He tried to sit up, he really did, but the muscles in his body were just too weak to support him and he quickly fell back against the bed. Only then did Kakashi realize that he was not wearing his mask and that the thin blanket was the only thing covering his faze. Naruto too seemed to have noticed this and thus Kakashi lay perfectly still while the blonde tried to lean sideways as to catch a glimpse of what his sensei's face really looked like.

- "Don't force yourself, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura admonished him.

- "I took a look at you earlier and you are going to have to stay in bed for a week," Tsunade added in. "And after you are out it will be another several days before I clear you to go on any missions."

- "I had a feeling that would be the case," Kakashi muttered, already wishing that he could leave.

- "Looks like it will take some time for you to master that new Sharingan," Tsunade stated, clearly lecturing him about overusing it.

- "You're right," he agreed, not feeling up to making himself a target for the Hokage's vicious fists at the moment.

- "For the time being, don't overdo it and rest up."

Kakashi couldn't very well object that and so sighed in defeat, reluctantly accepting that he would have to stay for a while. Then Tsunade turned to the others in the room, whom Kakashi had only vaguely noticed before – which said something about his condition as it was normally impossible to miss Gai when he was even remotely near.

- "Team Gai, I want you to rest today as well."

- "Hai!" Gai said, already planning what training he could get done with an extra day off.

- "Let's go Shizune."

With that the Hokage and her silent follower left the room. Sakura ran after them, clearly having something to discuss with the two.

Shortly thereafter the others left the room as well, leaving Kakashi to get his rest. From across the road from the hospital a pair of brown eyes saw them leave.

Rieka watched them until they disappeared around a corner then she turned back towards the hospital. Her heart was beating faster than normal and she had to force her breathing to remain calm. Generally she did not like hospitals, and seeing her father in one never meant anything good, as she had learnt already from a young age.

Part of her wanted to turn away and run until she could run no longer; another part reasoned that it would be ok for her to just wait until her father could walk out of the hospital himself. _But I have to see how bad it is. I have to make sure myself that he won't die. _

Slowly she forced her legs to carry her forward and further into the hospital, towards the front desk where she was directed towards the correct room. Once outside she hesitated again. Would he be mad at her, for not telling what she knew sooner? If she had done so, would he have been able to avoid injury during this mission then? Yes, he should be mad at her. It was her fault after all. Though since he was who he was he would probably not mention it and act like everything was ok in between them. But she could not ignore what had happened.

With a heavy lump in her throat Rieka opened the door quietly, only to spot her father's sleeping for on the bed. Immediately she felt as if she was five again, that first time when she had visited him in the hospital after _that _incident. She felt just as scared and confused now as she had then.

The room smelled clinically clean and of medication but for a moment Rieka was sure she could smell Sake on him. Then the memory slowly faded away, leaving her in the present, which wasn't much of a comfort.

As if feeling her eyes on him he stirred and the eye that was not his sharingan eye slowly opened. Before Rieka could move to either run away or step further into the room he had turned his head slightly and spotted her standing there in the doorway, eyes wide and full of fear in her otherwise pale face.

- "Hi there," he said, his voice somewhat hoarse but kind.

Tears sprung to her eyes. Did he have to act so nice all the time? She felt like she was falling apart here, one part of her scared that he would blame her for what had happened and the other one suddenly transformed into a scared child wondering if her Daddy would hurt her again.

Still she felt herself drawn further into the room. The door was left ajar behind her as she stepped closer to him, her teary eyes connected with his one open eye. She could see worry there, and confusion, but no anger or resentment. Did that mean that he did not know? Had no one told him that she had known that this mission could be dangerous, that she had neglected to tell anyone until it was almost too late?

- "I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling the tears fall once again.

The confusion in his eyes grew.

- "For what?"

Did his voice hold a tone of fear now? She wasn't sure, too busy trying to fruitlessly calm herself down.

- "It's my fault," she sobbed. "I tried to tell, I did, but it was already too late and I'm sorry! I didn't mean for you to get hurt!"

It took him a moment to interpret was she was saying but when he understood, at least somewhat, he felt like a hole had suddenly opened up beneath him.

- "This isn't your fault honey!" he assured her. "I overused my new eye-technique, it had nothing to do with you! Why would you even think so?"

His muscles still too week to allow him to sit up, he at least managed to move his hand out from below the blanket and towards his daughter. Desperate for the comfort he was offering Rieka threw herself at him and cried into his shoulder, unable to explain her behavior since it was sure to set off the seal on her tongue. Kakashi grew more and more worried, wondering what had happened while he had been gone.

- "It's ok," he assured her, resting his chin on her head. "Everything is fine, I love you and I'll protect you no matter what, I promise you."

- "You're not mad?"

The words were muffled against his shoulder but Kakashi still managed to figure out what she was saying. However he did not understand the desperate tone in her voice or the feeling that this had very little with the present to do.

- "I'm not mad. I love you and I'm sorry if I've ever done anything to make you doubt that."

The sobs increased then and Kakashi did not know what to do, not that there was much he could do in the first place. He just lay there in bed, silent as his daughter cried and cried against his shoulder.

Finally the sobs calmed down and the tears dried. Kakashi felt his daughter relax curled up against him as she was and though his body ached he enjoyed having her so close to him again.

Exhausted from her crying and the storm of emotions and memories Rieka fell asleep there in the arms of her father. The scared little five year old within her had finally accepted some comfort. Finally that particular demon of hers was at peace.

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**What I wanted to show here really is that though Rieka has developed through her training with Inoichi and Ibiki and gained some new skills during her time with Itachi (more on those soon, I promise) she really hasn't had the chance to deal with the old demons dating all the way back to the first series. She and Kakashi spoke some in "Kakashi's daughter II" but I really don't think that they dealt with all that they would have needed. I just felt like it was needed to at least get some of this over with before the rest can happen, you know? I'm not sure if it made sense though and if it didn't then I'll rewrite the chapter and take this scene away, ok? So please let me know what you think! **


	16. Tsunade's decission

**Hi again! Seems like you guys didn't want me to re-write the last chapter, so here's the next one! Enjoy! **

**And a short warning, next chapter will likely be a bit late as I am going back to Australia this week and will be jetlagged and stuff, so my writing is likely to get a bit behind. **

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Sometimes Tsunade almost regretted taking on the position of Hokage. Not only was it often boring and time consuming but there were also the decisions she made. Whatever she decided to do people would have an opinion about it. And she was constantly aware that most of the decisions she made would not only harm her if they were incorrect, they would also put her village, both shinobi and civilians, at risk.

The remains of team Kakashi, those who were not in hospital or on the run, had been sent out on a new mission. The elders had not approved of her choice to send that particular team on this mission, or any mission for that matter, but Tsunade had done so anyway. In return she had allowed Danzo, who she had really never trusted and even less so since she became Hokage, to choose one of the new members of the team.

Right now Tsunade was on her way to the hospital, having recently made another decision she was sure none of the elders would agree upon had she bothered to inform them beforehand. It was afternoon and all around her people were slowly closing their shops and heading back to their homes and waiting families. Watching them Tsunade could not help but question the sanity of her decision.

Once she reached the hospital she did not stop by the front desk to ask around, knowing from earlier in what room to find her target. Without knocking, a right she considered herself having as the Hokage, she entered the room and found two sleeping forms on the bed. Well, awakening forms really, as her entry to the room had woken both of them up.

- "Kakashi, Rieka," she greeted them, seeing both of them straighten up at her voice.

Rieka quickly stumbled out of the bed while Kakashi tried, and failed, to sit up.

- "Tsunade-sama," they both returned her greeting.

Tsunade first turned to Rieka, deciding to go through with her questionable decision first.

- "You," she told the girl, "after the recent events I have decided to, at least for now, trust you and give you your chakra back."

Shock and then joy played over the young face, while Kakashi seemed confused in his bed. Tsunade would deal with him later, wanting to do so alone.

- "Make no mistake," she warned the girl, giving her a stern look, "this does not mean that you will be allowed to do whatever you want. I will still hold the ability to seal your chakra away if you do anything, and don't think that I will necessarily need to be near you in order to do so!"

Looking chastised enough Rieka nodded and Tsunade quickly went through the necessary hand signs in order to modify the seal to her wishes. The girls stood absolutely still, even as Tsunade put her hand on the girl's forehead, and allowed the jutsu to work through her. She stumbled a little once the jutsu was over, somewhat dizzy from the upsurge of chakra.

Having been constricted for so long Rieka's chakra was now running wild within her. Tsunade watched her carefully, waiting for any physical outbursts of chakra, intended or not. For a moment the girl's eyes almost seemed reddish instead of their normal brown color, but the next moment it was gone and Tsunade wasn't sure if she had really seen the girl's eyes shift color or not.

- "You got it under control?" she asked a few minutes later, when it seemed the dizziness and storming chakra had calmed down.

- "Yes," Rieka replied, sounding somewhat hoarse. "I think so."

- "Good. Now if you don't mind I'd like to have a word with your father. Alone. Why don't you head back to the Hyuga-quarters?"

Rieka started for the door but stopped, hesitating a moment before she turned around and faced the Hokage again.

- "Sorry Hokage-sama, but could I also get my sword back?"

Tsunade had to think a moment before she remembered the sword that had been confiscated along with all other weapons. They had never been given back to the girl.

- "I'll see to it in the morning," Tsunade promised, hoping that she was nit making a huge mistake.

- "Thank you, Tsunade-sama!"

Smiling Rieka turned back towards the door, but just before she closed it Tsunade called after her;

- "And might I suggest that you do some training tonight, to give some outlet to your chakra. It will help even it out."

- "Hai, Hokage-sama."

With that Tsunade and Kakashi were left alone, Kakashi giving Tsunade a look that demanded she'd explain herself or he'd force her to do so, one way or another. Tsunade remained silent for a couple of short moments more, until she received the signal from one of the two ANBU-guards she had posted outside the room that there was no one listening in on their conversation.

- While you were away some pretty interesting things happened," she told Kakashi, sitting down in the visitor's chair.

- "I figured," Kakashi commented humorlessly.

Tsunade sighed, reminding herself that Kakashi was after all a worried parent. Though she herself had never had any children she thought she understood the need parents felt to protect their offspring. Just like she had once wanted to protect her little brother.

- "Three days after you and your team left Rieka came to me wanting to see Yamanaka Inoichi. She had decided to let him into her mind, on the condition that he'd let her show him the memories she wanted him to see."

Kakashi was more than a little confused. He had no idea what had happened while he was gone but apparently his daughter was crying because of it. And Inoichi had something to do with it as well. Did that mean Morino Ibiki as well? Had his daughter been tortured while he was gone? But no, Tsunade-sama had told him that Rieka had come to them and not the opposite. Still worry clenched his gut tightly and he fought to breath deep, calm breaths.

- "As it turned out, someone has placed a seal on the girl in order to keep her from revealing whatever secrets she knows."

His breath suddenly stuck in his throat Kakashi stared at the Hokage, his one open eye wide in anticipation.

- "This seal must have been placed on her after she arrived to the village. It tried to intervene in Inoichi's investigation of her mind and throw him out. When that failed it tried to strangle them until it succeeded in closing Inoichi out again. I managed to counteract the seal by using my healing jutsu to help Rieka breathe."

Their eyes met, Tsunade's serious as ever, challenging Kakashi to blame her for what happened. He didn't. Not right then at least. Right then he was too focused on the fact that his daughter had almost died, strangled by a seal that he had not even known about. How could something like that happen? How was it even possible? How had his little girl gotten herself in so much trouble?

- "From the memories she showed us we were able to deduct that she suspected that your mission in the Sand might have been a trap set by the Akatsuki in order to get to the Nine Tails. We sent reinforcements whom, as you well know, arrived too late to be of any use for your team."

His daughter had suspected something like that, and still hadn't said as much as a word about it when they said their goodbyes by the gate? For the first time Kakashi felt a sting of doubt when it came to his daughter. He tried to think back to then, and to other occasions when they had been talking. There had been chances for her to tell him, so why hadn't she told him? How long had she been under that seal and for how long and she kept things like that secret on her own accord?

He tried to shake off that feeling in his chest. His daughter was not a criminal! She was thirteen for goodness sake! _But then again_, a traitorous little voice in his mind whispered, _Uchiha Itachi was no older than her when he slaughtered his entire clan. _

- "Other than that Inoichi and I also formed a number of theories based on what happened when he tried to press further into her mind and see what she wanted to show him. We suspect corruption," Tsunade spoke, interrupting Kakashi's line of thought.

Happy for the distraction Kakashi threw his mind at this, focusing solely on what Tsunade was telling him. Surely this meant that his daughter was not a criminal? And surely the Hokage would not have given her chakra back had she thought that his daughter really was a threat to the village?

- "We know that the seal was placed upon her after she was released from the interrogation unit," Tsunade stated. "We also know that this seal was placed upon her to protect whatever secrets she knows, no matter what the price. We can guess that these secrets are either really important or that they concern high ranking members of Konoha. My guess would be that Rieka does not know all there is to know, or she would according to Inoichi likely have confided in someone she could trust earlier."

Faced with this Kakashi wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or scared. In a flash the doubts had disappeared from his mind, crushed under what Tsunade was telling him, but now it seemed his daughter was in way over her head in danger. What had he done to get a daughter like that?

- "What have been done to protect her?" he asked, feeling the strategic ninja in him and the worried father-part coalesce.

This time Tsunade smiled, and it was not a very nice smile.

- "I have detached a trusted ANBU-agent to watch her at all times. Also I have given enough reason for Huyga Hiashi to suspect that something is wrong, without giving away too much information, that he has members of his clan shadowing her at all times. And I've given her the means to fight on her own, just now. You could say that your daughter is the most guarder person in the village right now."

Somewhat calmed by this, though even more determined to heal quickly and get out of bed, Kakashi nodded to show that he understood. Still he feared what would happen to his daughter. Someone within the village wanted to see her dead. He wondered if she had known this already when she ran away. Had she stumbled across something and realized that it was too big for her to take on, that people wouldn't hesitate to kill her over it?


	17. Dinnertime

**Hi again! Jetlagged and stressed about the first week of this semester I am finally in Australia and found myself with enough time to type this down. It is not perfect but I hope that it is somehting. Hopefully there will be an update this weekend, though I do not promise anything. Sorry it is short. **

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It felt like her body was on fire, like little small insects within her were trying to dig themselves out through her skin. Her chakra was back. The power she had previously taken for granted suddenly felt extraordinary. It was a rush unlike anything she had ever experienced before and she fought to control it even as she ran over the roofs towards her uncle's house.

She could touch the moon right now, she just had to jump and she would reach it. Cross oceans, climb mountains, even lifting mountains if she wanted to, everything was possible right now! With this power surging through her body she could do anything she wanted, she could… she could sense that she was being followed.

The realization came as a sudden cold shower. Nothing had really changed. True that she could now defend herself against attacks but what chance did she have against those that wanted to harm her, really? She was just a kid and they were grown ninjas, they had years and years of experience, even more so than her father, so how could she even hope to stand a chance against them?

Despite the doubt hitting her she continued on running like nothing was wrong, trying instead to focus a bit on those following her. Where were they? How many were they? Her immediate instinct was to hide and try to catch a glimpse of her followers, but that may send the wrong kind of signals to the Hokage who had given her her chakra back. She did not doubt that the Hokage had her eyes on her, watching for any signs that she would misuse the trust she had been shown.

There were people following behind her, on some distance and carefully trying to hide their presence. More than one person, probably two or three. Then there were someone to her right, who it took her a moment longer to discover. Definitely more experienced, that one. And then there were a very vague chakra signature somewhere to the left of her, one which she kept loosing focus on but which also made the hair in her neck stand straight out, her instincts screaming at her that this was very much a real threat.

Who were they? If she had to take a guess she would say that the one to her left was a spy from Danzo. Instinctively her hand traveled up to her throat, remembering how close it had been that she had died. Were they going to assassinate her, now when the seal had not killed her?

On the other hand, the one to her right did not feel quite as threatening. Experienced, yes, and definitely not someone she would like to fight, but there were nothing in the sensing of him that gave her the feeling that he was a real threat to her right now. She didn't think that he was evil, just doing his job. Maybe a spy from the Hokage then?

And then those behind her, who carefully kept hiding their chakra signatures from her but still didn't quite hide the fact that they were following her. They confused her. She could understand that Danzo would like to keep an eye on her, or possibly kill her in order to make sure that she could never reveal what she knew about him, and she could understand that the Hokage would need to keep an eye on her since she was not fully trustable and thus a potential threat to the village. But who else could have reason to have her followed? No one she could think of.

Soon she reached her uncle's house. By then her chakra had calmed down somewhat and was buzzing softly beneath her skin. As soon as she entered the house she could smell the food and she realized that she was late for dinner. Blushing lightly, thinking about how she had cried and then fallen asleep in her father's arms like a little baby, she entered the dining room and saw her uncle and cousins already seated.

- "I am sorry that I am late," she said, sitting down besides Hinata.

- "Did you have a nice visit to your father?" Hiashi wondered, nodding his acceptance of her apology.

- "Yes I did. Tsunade-sama was there too," she added.

- "Tsunade-sama was there earlier today too, when I was there," Neji said. "What did she want this time?"

Quickly chewing her noodles Rieka replied,

- "She wanted to speak to father about something. But first she gave me my chakra back."

Silence echoed around the table, four pair of eyes for a moment focused solely on Rieka. She tried not to blush but could feel her face growing red.

- "That's great. Congratulations Rieka-chan," Hinata spoke, breaking the surprised silence.

- "Yes, that's really good news. I did think that the Hokage was a little too hard when she did that," Hiashi agreed, smiling and looking fully the family father that he so rarely allowed anyone to see.

The rest of the dinner continued mostly in a content silence, only the clicking of the chop sticks against the bowls breaking the silence. Once they had finished eating Hanabi and Hinata decided to take care of the dishes, leaving Neji, Hiashi and Rieka sitting somewhat awkwardly at the dining table. Finally Rieka decided to break it.

- "So uncle, I was wondering…" Hiashi gave her a look that told her to continue and Rieka took a deep breath, unsure of how her question would be received. "Would you care to continue training me, like you did before?"

For a moment the meaning of that "before" seemed to hang in the air like dark clouds, coloring the otherwise peaceful scene with the memory of how she had left before, how things had changed since then. Then Hiashi nodded.

- "Of course. I see no reason not to, especially now when you have your chakra back."

And the three moved outside, where Hiashi asked Neji and Rieka to spar so that he could see what she remembered and how her battle style had developed.

Trying to remember what she had been taught about the Hyuga battle-style Rieka took her stance, facing Neji who had adapted a similar position, hands raised ready to attack or defend. Their eyes met for a moment, trying to gauge the strength of the other.

When Neji attacked it was with a surprising speed. Normally Rieka would not have been able to keep up but almost three years of training with a sharingan-wielder had taught her a thing or two. She managed to get her hands up and block the blow, albeit somewhat clumsily. The next two blows she blocked too, before she caught an opening in Neji's defense and attacked. He easily avoided the blow and she was forced to focus on her own defense.

Hiashi watched, his expression serious and not revealing anything of what he thought. When Neji attacked he was prepared to see his niece fall to the ground at that first blow. He was surprised when she managed to defend herself, and even more surprised when the fight continued on. Though Neji was holding back it was obvious that Rieka had developed. Her speed had increased since he last saw her fight, and her blows were perfectly aimed whenever she attacked.

What he noticed the most though was that the way in which she fought had changed. No longer was she a little girl instinctively flinching away whenever she was attacked. Instead a new calm and focus had come to her eyes, an acceptance of the situation and a determination to do her best and not hide. He wondered what had happened, unaware that had this taken place only a few days earlier he still would have seen that flinch and fear in her eyes.

Rieka herself only knew that this felt good. It felt good for her body to finally get some training again, her chakra was pulsating in her, ready to be used at any given moment. She felt calm and yet she felt so light, like something heavy had been lifted from her shoulders. At the moment she did not even ponder the fact that she never once thought she could smell alcohol in the breath of her enemy or see him raise his hands and slap her in the face, followed by the most intense pain in her wrists.

Hiashi stopped them after a while, deciding to remind Rieka of some of the stances and attacks commonly used by the Hyuga clan. Panting lightly Rieka listened, nodded and then got back into her stance, ready to once again face her cousin.

They continued like that for more than an hour. Hinata and Hanabi finished the dishes and came out to watch them and soon the sisters joined in, sparing against each other in a manner they had not done for quite a while. Hiashi watched them all, interrupting once in a while to correct a stance or show how to get a more effective blow. As the darkness fell he could not help but let a small smile grace his features. His daughters, his niece and nephew, all of them were there, listening to him, learning from him. How had he ever not realized that this was how life was supposed to be?


	18. The sword

**This chapter is probably a bit boring, as I had to write through a writer's block, but I hope the next one will be more interesting. I've already got the next two chapters more or less done, as the characters suddenly got life and their own will (Help me! They overpowered me and got me tied down and they are taking over the plotline!). Next chapter should be up in a few days, I just have to check it through some more and possibly make some changes. **

**As always, please review and let me know what you think!**

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As of yet, Konoha was a relatively peaceful place. There was the regular onrush of missions, civilians demanding that this or that be dealt with, diplomats negotiating the relationships to other villages etc. All in all there really weren't that much to complain about at the moment. However there were clouds rising at the horizon, as some were aware.

Tsunade contemplated this as she sat by her desk, reading through mission reports and requests for new missions. She wished that she was better prepared to meet with the storm she was sure would soon be over them all. As the Hokage it was her job to protect Konoha and its inhabitants, no matter what. She would not hesitate to put her own life on the line if it meant saving the village, though this time she wasn't so sure that her life would be enough.

There were the Akatsuki, who were after not only Naruto but also all the other Jinchuriki. The criminal organization was already strong and steadily growing stronger. No data they had managed to gather so far suggested anything else than that sooner or later they would come for Naruto, and likely destroy the village in the process.

And as if the Akatsuki wasn't enough, there were Orochimaru as well. Tsunade shivered thinking of her old teammate. His personality had always been somewhat twisted she reckoned, but she really couldn't understand how he had turned out the way he had. He had almost destroyed the village three years ago, killing their old sensei in the process! Despite him staying hidden and doing no major moves for the better part of three years, with Naruto back and determined to find Sasuke, and thereby Orochimaru, things were bound to begin happen very soon.

These two threats alone were enough to make Tsunade want to hit her head into the wall repeatedly. Hard. As in wall-breakingly hard. If she would somehow manage to divert the threats of both Akatsuki and the Orochimaru/Sasuke combo then there would still be the unknown threat from within the village, in her own ranks!

Sighing Tsunade put the folder she was reading down and instead reached for a bottle of sake she had stashed in the bottom drawer of her desk. She would just have one glass, just for the sake of her headache.

How big was the corruption? What were they after? Really the only thing she knew was that there were some sort of secrets, secrets that had been found out by a ten year old genin who had by then felt the need to flee the village. For good reasons, as it seemed, for when said genin returned three years later she was given a seal that would kill her rather than allow her to reveal the secrets she knew. To top it all off Tsunade couldn't trust that the genin was still loyal to the village and had not become tainted with the evil of the Akatsuki. For all what Tsunade knew Rieka may very well have decided that Konoha was too corrupted to save and therefore think that it would be in her best interest to destroy it.

Gulping the first glass of sake down Tsunade refilled it, staring straight ahead of her. If it was some deeply hidden female side of her or just her old sensei's teaching that everyone had something good in them she did not know, but she couldn't really make herself believe that the little girl was a real threat to the village. That's why she had given her her chakra back. According to her spy the girl had done nothing to deserve mistrust as of yet, just resumed her learning of the Hyuga fighting style.

So what was she supposed to do? As it seemed there were nothing she could do at the moment, except trying to find out how immediate each of these threats were.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she quickly put the sake away, trying to look busy.

- "Come on in," she called.

The door swung open and in stepped none other than Ibiki. He was looking very severe and in his hands he held a sheathed sword.

- "Hokage-sama," Ibiki greated her, bowing slightly. "This is the sword that was confiscated when Rieka was brought back."

Carefully he put it down on the desk in front of her. Tsunade stood up and pulled it out of its sheath. It was nothing particular about the sword. Great work though nothing fancy about neither the design nor the painting on the handle or the sheath. It was obvious that it had been kept in great shape. Tsunade let her eyes roam over it, looking for anything that seemed out of place.

- "It has been searched for any jutsus or seals placed upon it, correct?" she inquired.

- "Yes, Hokage-sama. We had a seal expert look at it, and there were nothing to be found. This sword should not be any more dangerous than the hands swinging it."

- "Good. After what happened earlier I don't want to take any chances with that girl."

Satisfied with her investigation she re-sheathed the sword and returned it to Ibiki.

- "I see no reason not to return the sword to the girl, provided that she behaves. If she does not the sword will have to go, as will her chakra."

- "I understand, Hokage-sama."

Ibiki stared at the sword thoughtfully, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Tsunade had returned to her seat and thus signaled that their conversation was over. Finally Tsunade coughed, trying to catch his attention.

- "Morino-san?" Tsunade spoke. "Was there something else that you wanted?"

- "Oh, no, not really," Ibiki replied, pulling himself back to present. "I was just thinking…"

When he did not continue Tsunade sighed, irritated.

- "What were you thinking, Morino-san?"

At this Ibiki seemed to hesitate, looking between Tsunade and the sword before drawing a deep breath.

- "Rieka-chan did not have a sword in her possession when she left the village. In fact I am rather sure that she did not even know how to handle one."

- "So? She must have gotten it while she was away." Tsunade dismissed it all.

Nodding Ibiki lowered the sword, shifting his grip until it was held in one hand on his side.

- "Yes, of course, that would be the logical conclusion. I was just thinking about the fondness for Uchiha Itachi that Inoihchi detected in her memories. He had a sword too, that according to our data he has never used since he… went mad."

For a moment Tsunade just stared at the man, then her eyes shifted to the sword.

- "You think this is the sword that Itachi used to slaughter his clan?"

- "It's the same model as the ones used by many of the ANBU," Ibiki replied, shrugging. "It is not impossible. Either way, if Rieka knows how to use it she must have learned it from someone."

Suddenly Tsunade could feel her stomach rebelling, trying to repel her most recent meal. The mere thought if this sword, the sword she had been holding, being the one used to massacre so many innocent lives was sickening. Even more sickening was the thought of Itachi keeping the sword and then giving it to an innocent child, teaching her how to wield it the same way he had when he killed his own family.

- "The thought is repulsing, I know." Ibiki spoke, looking at her with something close to pity.

Forcing her stomach to calm down Tsunade straightened her back, her eyes growing harder in the process. Meeting Ibiki's eyes she said, her voice firm and challenging;

- "A weapon in itself is not a threat, Morino-san. It is the hands that wield the weapon that is the real damage. Are you suggesting that I not return the sword to the girl?"

- "I would not think Rieka-chan a threat to us," Ibiki replied, meeting her eyes. "I was merely observing a possibility."

With that Ibiki turned around to leave the room. Just before he would close the door behind him he stopped, sparing a last look at the Hokage before he left.

- "I do not think Rieka-chan a threat to us, Hokage-sama. However, having had the privilege to train her for many years, I almost feel sorry for whoever is threatening her."

Leaving Tsunade to think of those words Ibiki closed the door behind him, heading towards the house of Hyuga Hiashi. In his left hand he held the sword that may or may not have been used to slaughter a whole clan with the same carefulness one may use to hold an especially disgusting insect.

Meanwhile Rieka was sitting in her uncle's garden. Her body was sore and aching after days of training and yet she felt better than she had in quite a while. It felt good to be able to practice, to keep her muscles active and not become too lazy. Especially with this threat hanging over her.

With a sigh she tipped her head backwards and closed her eyes, enjoying the sunshine on her skin. _I wish it could always be this peaceful, _she thought to herself. _No wars, no hatred, just peace and calm. _Even as she thought it she knew that this peace she was experiencing right now was just the calm before the real storm broke out.

- "What are you thinking about?" a voice asked.

Rieka slipped one eye open to watch Neji as he sat down next to her on the veranda.

- "Nothing in particular. Just enjoying the day," she replied, closing her eye again.

- "It is a beautiful day," he agreed with her.

They sat in silence for a while, both of them enjoying the moment. Since that first time sparing against each other under Hiashi's supervision it had become a routine of theirs to spar in the evening and Rieka had gained a whole new respect for her cousin. She could see why he was regarded as a genius and grateful that he would take the time to help her improve her hand to hand combat.

- "Are you ready for another round?" Neji finally asked.

- "Another round of getting my butt kicked, you mean? I suppose so…" Rieka sighed theatrically, rising.

Both of them took their positions, feet spread wide for balance and hands raised ready to strike or defend.

- "You're not that bad," Neji comforted her. "Even Hiashi-sama agrees that you are getting better."

Hardly had he finished those words before he attacked, barely giving Rieka any time to block his attack. The next attack followed immediately, followed by a kick to her legs which forced Rieka to stumble backwards in order to avoid it. Neji followed her and aimed a blow to her shoulder, which Rieka dodged and then followed up by a blow to Neji's stomach.

That was how Ibiki found them when he arrived. For a moment he just stood there, watching the two sparring. He knew of the Hyuga genius of course, even if he did not know the boy personally. It was with a fond smile, which he would rather die than ever admit out loud, that he watched his old student. She had developed, he noticed. Ever since he got to know her Rieka had never been one for hand to hand combat, much rather preferring to hide and watch others. And though it was obvious that Rieka was no master of hand to hand combat there was a certain agility in the way she dodged blows as well as a swiftness in her moves, that promised that with enough training she would definitely become a force to be reckoned with.

- "Looking good," he praised them both.

Immediately the sparring ended and the two turned towards him, apparently so focused on their fight that they had failed to notice him. Then again, Ibiki did work with spies so he would have to had picked up a trick or two from them.

- "Ibiki-san," Rieka greeted him nervously.

Neji remained silent but bowed his head to show his respect for the other shinobi. Ibiki nodded approvingly before he turned to Rieka again.

- "The Hokage sent me to give you this."

He held out the sword, watching Rieka to see her reaction to the sword. As soon as her eyes fell on it a smile graced her lips and she stepped forward, carefully taking it in both of her hands.

- "My sword. Thank you, Ibiki-san!"

Like Tsunade had earlier Rieka pulled the sword out of its sheath and inspected it, looking for any signs of damage. Only when she was satisfied that the sword was indeed unharmed did she put it back in its sheath.

- "Do you know how to use that thing?" Ibiki wondered, feeling a strange warm sensation in his stomach that he did not often feel.

Rieka smiled at him in a way that told him that she knew he was teasing her. Only from watching her draw and then sheath the sword it he could tell that she had at least some familiarity with the weapon. And why would she bother to carry it around if she did not know how to use it?

- "Seems like you have learned a thing or two while you've been gone," he commented.

- "Maybe," she agreed, still smiling at him.

- "Mind showing me?"

Her smile faded and she lowered her eyes, looking at the ground instead of him. Immediately he regretted asking. Before he could come up with anything to say she had raised her head again, meeting his eyes with a sad expression in them.

- "Sorry. It's one of the basic rules; never let your enemies know your strengths or weaknesses because they will use them against you."

The way in which she tilted her head as she spoke let him know that she was referring to those watching her rather than him. She was being watched and she knew it, which was the reason to why she would not give him a demonstration of her skill with the sword.

- "I taught you that," he stated, the corner of his mouth turning upwards.

- "You did."

Any anger Ibiki may have felt at having his own student using what he himself had taught her against him vanished. Since Inoichi had told him of what he had seen in her memories and the suspicions of someone within the village trying to kill her Ibiki had been at war with himself, unsure of he should be proud or disappointed that she would not trust him. But now, seeing her smile at him like that, assured him that though she was older now she was still the same little girl he had gotten to know all those years ago.

- "That's good kid. Take care!"

He turned around and left, determined to find out who it was that was threatening the little girl that had somehow sneaked her way into his non-existent heart and then dispose of them.


	19. Entry of demons of the past

**Just a fair warning, this chapter contains references to both _Kakashi's daughter_ (chapter 35 and onwards) as well as _Kakashi's daughter II_ (chapters 32 & 33). That means that to understand what is really happening here, and the reasons behind it, you should understand these references. **

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Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato returned from their failed mission the day after Rieka had gotten her sword back. Since they were all tired from the mission, and also a bit downcast from their run in with Sasuke, Yamato allowed the younger team members to head straight to their homes, with the order to rest up, and headed alone to the Hokage's office to give a brief mission report.

His meeting with Lady Tsunade was quickly done with and thus Yamato headed towards the hospital, feeling that he should personally inform the real captain of the team of the mission's failure. Plus that he was eager to see how his sempai was doing.

Having visited Kakashi a few times before Yamato did not need to ask his way around and soon found himself standing outside the door of Kakashi's room. As he lifted his hand to knock he heard voices from within and realized that Kakashi already had a visitor. He hesitated, unsure of what he should do. This mission was not of the nature that could be discussed in front of anyone, and even if it was he wasn't sure of he should interrupt the current visitor.

Finally he decided to take a chance and knocked the door. He could always leave if it seemed like he was unwelcome, couldn't he?

The voices grew silent and a moment later Kakashi's voice told him to enter. Yamato slid the door open and entered. What he saw had him speechless for a moment. Kakashi was sitting up in his bed, definitely an improvement from last time he had seen him, and sitting down beside him on the bed was a young girl that Yamato could not remember seeing. She was dressed in dark clothes and had her brown hair gathered in a ponytail, but what Yamato immediately reacted to was the sword she had strapped to her back. Though the sword was nothing special, quite like the one he himself often wore with his ANBU uniform, strapped to the girl it looked bigger than it should and he wondered if she knew how to use it. And why she would bring it to a visit with Kakashi.

- "Yamato. You're back from your mission. How did it go?" Kakashi wondered.

Still somewhat confounded by the girl, especially as she did not wear a headband of any kind, Yamato hesitated before he answered. Kakashi noticed his hesitation and spoke up again.

- "I trust Rieka," he assured him.

Where had he heard that name before? Yamato wondered silently, nodding his understanding.

- "I apologize, Kakashi-sempai. The mission was a failure. We had a run in with Uchiha Sasuke. No one was harmed, though Naruto and Sakura were somewhat discouraged by his strength and refusal to return to the village with us."

From the corner of his eye he could see the girl's eyebrows meet as she seemed to be thinking hard about something, staring at him. Had they met before? They must have, if she too thought that he looked familiar. _Rieka, _he thought. _I know I have heard the name before, but where..? _

Suddenly all color drained from the girl's face and she stumbled to her feet, backing away from him. Her eyes had grown big and he could see fear and loathing flashing across them. This only had him even more confused as he could still not remember where they had met before, but was pretty sure that he had done nothing to deserve such a look.

- "_You!_"

The word was barely more than a whisper yet it contained a repulsion that Yamato really could not understand. What had he ever done to give her reason to direct such emotions at him?

Clearly Kakashi was confused too, which was of little comfort to Yamato. The silver haired ninja reached out a hand towards the girl but she was too far away, backed up towards the foot of the bed. She was tense and seemed ready to run away at any moment.

- "Rieka? What's wrong? This is Yamato, he's been doing my job while I've been in the hospital."

Rieka tore her eyes from him and instead stared at Kakashi with an expression as if she could not believe what she was hearing. Yamato wondered briefly over the relationship between the two, as she seemed deeply hurt by what he had just said.

- "This… _this _is your replacement?" she asked, pointing a finger at Yamato.

Her eyes were wandering between the two, disbelieving and, camouflaged but not invisible, terror. Behind his mask Kakashi was gaping at her, unable to understand what was wrong. Yamato was equally confused, though the tone in her voice had something vaguely familiar to it…

- "Yes. He's an old friend of mine. Please Rieka, what's wrong?"

Now Kakashi's voice held a tone of desperation and he was clearly worried about the girl. Yamato was staring at her, not sure what to do or what to say. He had a nagging sensation in the back of his head that there was something that he should remember, but what was it? He tried to think but could not remember ever even seeing this girl. How could he, he normally worked with the ANBU, which was not really the ideal place to get in contact with kids!

- "He's not a _friend, _he's a _traitor!_" the girl yelled, her finger trembling as it pointed towards him.

From nowhere it seemed like the world was suddenly crashing down around Yamato. He remembered. The mission had been years ago, a very sensitive case. The third Hokage had been very insistent that nothing could go wrong. Yet it had and it had been a catastrophe.

- "Rieka…" Kakshi tried, but was soon interrupted.

- "Has he told you that he does not hesitate to leave his comrades behind, to see them _die_, as long as it means the mission is a success? _Has he?_"

Kakashi was gaping at her. Yamato was too, as the memories kept flooding in his mind. Such a sensitive case, and the risk the Hokage was taking, and the girl could not be harmed under any circumstances. He had taken the girl in his arms then then had focused on running, just running, because she was so young and it really wasn't her business to be on a mission like this, but it was for the safety of the village, so he had to protect her, had to take her away from the danger.

- "His name isn't even Yamato, it's _Tenzõ_, though somehow I doubt even that is real! He's a _monster!_"

The voices of the little girl back then and the older one he was seeing now melted together, screaming at him in hysteria and anger and fear, accusing him, blaming him for what he had done. And Yamato had no way of defending himself because it wasn't his fault really, it was just an accident, and yet she blamed him for what had happened. She was just a child, so young and innocent, how could she be expected to understand the workings of the real world? Why should she have to accept that a man had died in front of her?

- "Rieka honey, calm down! I don't understand what's so wrong but I promise you that…"

Furious brown eyes focused on Kakashi, the hurt of what she considered betrayal evident in them.

- "You said you were one of the good guys! You said I could trust you and yet you're calling him your _friend_!"

Both Kakashi and Yamato were rendered speechless at the display of emotions playing out in front of them. Hurt, fear, anger, betrayal, it was all running wild while the chakra was flaring, burning like a deadly fire directly under her skin, ready to be released at any moment, the only thing holding it back being whatever little control the girl still had over herself.

- "He's with _them, _and you're with _him _and I can't trust either of you!"

A lone tear slipped down her cheek. She didn't seem to notice, instead she was clawing at the sleeves of her shirt. Predictable the fabric tore under her rough fingers, baring what appeared to be old scars at her wrists. Her left hand clasped over her right wrist in a desperate grip as she backed away further.

- "Guess I was a fool to ever trust you again, because I really should have known that you were not trustable!"

And just like that she was gone, as if she had never even been there. Both Kakashi and Yamato stared at the spot where she had been just a moment ago, trying to understand what had just happened.

- "Rieka!" Kakashi called out. "Baby I don't know what I did wrong but I'm sorry! Please come back!"

Before Yamato could stop him he had thrown the blanket aside and stumbled out of bed. However he was still too weak and his knees gave in. Yamato barely managed to catch him, yet the only thing Kakashi was focused on was to find Rieka.

As he fought to get Kakashi back into the bed and make him calm down another realization hit Yamato with the strength of Lady Tsunade in a very bad mood. That girl, Rieka, who he had apparently scarred for life, was none other than the daughter of Kakashi! Suddenly it seemed like a very good idea to get out of the room and then move to the other side of the world. He remembered how over protective Kakashi could be of his daughter. Hell, the man had even left ANBU for her sake, and when the realized that it was Yamato who was responsible for this then Yamato wanted to be as far away as possible.

A nurse came rushing in, alarmed by the shouting of the last couple of minutes. Immediately she spotted the two shinobi wrestling half in, half off the bed and got the general idea.

- "Hatake-san, you can't leave the bed yet! Tsunade-sama has ordered that you remain in bed for another couple of days!"

She joined Yamato in his attempts at forcing Kakashi back at the bed and soon the two had a weakened Copy Cat Ninja pressed down into the mattress, calling out in vain for his daughter.

- "Kakashi-sempai, you need to calm down!" Yamato tried to reason with him.

It seemed however as if Kakashi didn't even hear him, so focused was he in getting up and after his daughter. The nurse too was trying to reason with him but neither of them seemed to getting through.

- "Can you hold him down on your own for a moment?" she half shouted at Yamato.

Desperate to see his friend calm down Yamato nodded and moved his hands so that he had a better grip on the other shinobi. As soon as he had so the nurse let go and ran out of the room. After what felt to Yamato like an eternity but was probably only a minute or two she returned, this time with a syringe. Fighting against his own instinct to run in the other direction Yamato held his sempai somewhat still while the nurse put the syringe to Kakashi's skin and injected him with whatever there was in it.

Yamato was breathing heavily, both from the effort of holding Kakashi down and to keep himself calm. As a ninja he did not particularly like needles or being injected with solutions he did not understand, knowing that it could be a drug or something similar that would render him helpless. Therefore it was with a certain ache in his heart that he saw Kakashi slowly succumb to the drug the nurse had given him, until he lay still on the bed. A few minutes later his only movements were his chest heaving with each slow, regular breath.

- "What happened that had him so upset?" the nurse asked, turning accusing eyes on Yamato.

Despite the syringe now being empty Yamato suddenly felt like hiding.

- "His daughter was here," he managed to say, trying himself to get a grip of what had just happened. "She… said something that upset him, I guess."

- "Obviously," the nurse snorted.

Slowly the severity of what had just happened started to become clear to Yamato. He stared at the now sleeping Kakashi for a moment, terrified at the thought of what had taken place and what possibly could come to happen as a result in it. He had heard of Kakashi's daughter and how she had left the village and only been returned recently. He had just never put her in connection with that mission all those years ago.

- "I need to go," he muttered to the nurse, springing off.

Only a few minutes later did he reach the Hokage-tower. He ran through the corridors and swung the door open without knocking. Tsunade looked up from the reports she was reading, ready to yell at whoever had interrupted her so rudely but stopped herself as she spotted the out of breath Yamato.

- "I think I did something really stupid," he told her.

* * *

**See that? *Points at text* See what they *Points at Rieka, Kakashi and Yamato* ganged up on me and did? I hadn't planned for this to happen, but they forced it out of me! I had planned for a nice little scene between them and then things were going to be fine again, but noo, they had to make a big deal out of it! So not my idea! **

**Please let me know if you hate it, and I'll try to change it back to how I had originally planned it. *Goes back to trying to chew off the ropes mentioned in the autor's note in last chapter***


	20. Fight of the shadows

**When I wrote this chapter and the previous one the characters kind of took over and reacted worse than I had originally planned to the plotline. So I am not entierly sure that I like what Rieka does in this chapter, thought basically it does not change any of the major plot. Let me know what you think, ok? **

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She had to leave! She had to leave or she would be killed!

Those were the thoughts running through Rieka's head as she sprinted over the roofs, heading away from the hospital. Her eyes were blurry with tears that she refused to shed and she still had her left hand wrapped around her right wrist, trying to stop the pain of the wound that had healed nearly ten years ago.

Her dad, whom she had chosen to trust, was befriending ANBU. ANBU was led by Danzo. And Danzo had ordered the massacre of the Uchiha-clan, he had placed a curse mark on her and nearly killed her. He would kill her if he got the chance, she knew that. So who could she trust, if she could not even trust her own dad?

She could feel her eyes flashing behind the tears and she knew that they were shifting back and forth between brown and red. Just like they had that time all those years ago, when she had gotten her first lesson in how she could not trust her father. Why hadn't she learnt her lesson then? She had, but then she hadn't stuck to it when she was placed on his team. So technically it was her own fault. It was her own fault that she was hurting so much now.

Where would she go? What would she do? She did not know, she just knew that she had to get away. Away from fathers who betrayed the trust she so foolishly continued to place upon him, away from ANBU agents pretending to be something they were not, she had to get away from all of them!

The sun had set while she was in the hospital with her dad, so now it was dark around her. The only light guiding her was the light coming from down the streets, where civilians and shinobi alike were getting ready to call it a day and head to bed. There were so many of them, were they all against her too? She knew that whenever she left the house people would whisper about her, about what a traitor she was who had left the village. But how could she have stayed, after learning what they had done to a poor boy of no more than thirteen years of age?

She was in the middle of a jump, in the air between to rooftops, when she felt her chakra shift inside her. Her chakra fought it, like it had last time, and she was momentarily distracted. Then two things happened. The seal that Tsunade had placed upon her constrained her chakra, making her unable to use her chakra, and gravity hit in and brought her down towards the roof below her. Distracted as she was she slipped and fell. She closed her eyes and crouched into a ball, trying to lessen the impact the fall would have on her body.

Though she slid off the roof she never hit the ground. Instead she could feel a body colliding with hers and two arms sneaking around her, grabbing her and interrupting her fall. She felt the body that had caught her move and a few seconds later it had placed itself steadily on what she assumed was the ground.

- "Hey there, you okay?" a voice asked.

She could feel the rumble in the man's chest as he spoke. Her eyes flew open in surprise and she struggled to be let down. He quickly set her feet down on the ground but kept an arm around her shoulders to support her.

- "Are you hurt?" another voice wondered, this one female.

Rieka turned her head to look at the girl running towards them and felt her head spinning.

- "Naruto," she whispered, once again looking at the boy, and then; "Sakura. What are you doing here?"

- "Do we know you?" Naruto asked, looking at her intently, squinting his eyes in the darkness to get a better look at her.

She had known that Naruto was back but she hadn't actually met him before. He had grown, she noticed, and he looked a bit more mature than he had before. But those blue eyes looking at her as if they were trying to solve a problem were just the same as always.

- "Rieka-chan?"

Sakura was the first one to recognize her but as soon as she whispered her name Naruto too seemed to recognize her and his smile grew wider.

- "Hey, it's you Rieka-chan! Long time no see!"

Before she could react she was engulfed in a hug and she couldn't help but smile. Naruto would always be Naruto, no matter what.

- "Is that another friend of yours, Naruto-kun? Sakura-san?"

It wasn't the voice she recognized, as it had been with Yamato/Tenzõ, nor did she recognize his looks. He was a complete stranger to her and had he only remained silent she might not have even noticed him. As it was her eyes immediately snapped towards him when he spoke and two things registered in her mind; the emotionless tone of voice that he used as well as the obviously faked smile he was sporting.

He was one of them. Whoever that boy was he was ANBU, one of those who wanted to kill her.

Abruptly she tore herself free of Naruto's hug and ran. She ran as quickly as she could, turning into a side street and then an alley just to lose them. Behind her she could hear them calling out, even chasing after her. So she ran faster, pressuring her body to its limits, running and turning and twisting until she was dizzy herself. Somewhere far behind her Naruto and Sakura was calling out to her but their search was fruitless. In the darkness neither of them had any means of finding her.

Tokuma and Neji Hyuga however did have the means to follow her through the empty streets of Konoha in the darkness, her chakra shining clearly through the darkness and the seal confining it. The two had drawn nearer to her as soon as they noticed that something was wrong, fearing that something was terribly wrong. Though it did not seem like she was being hunted they remained near, ready to fight should it be needed.

- "If you go find Hiashi-sama I'll continue to follow the girl," Tokuma offered.

- "We should stay together, in case something happens," Neji replied.

They grew silent as Rieka took a few sudden turns and they had to concentrate in order not to lose sight of her. Then Tokuma spoke again.

- "Something is about to happen. We should get Hiashi-sama, in case we can't handle it on our own."

Neji mentally battled with this. Some people thought that Tokuma possessed the strongest Byakugan in the whole clan, and Neji was not exactly clueless either. Together they were definitely not to be taken lightly, but what if they really would find themselves facing something they could not handle on their own?

- "Fine," the teen muttered, changing his course so that he was heading towards his uncle's house instead. "But you better look after my cousin!"

They separated, Neji running as fast as he could to get his uncle while Tokuma continued to follow the girl on the ground. Though she had her chakra restrained she was surprisingly hard to keep track of, had it not been for his Byakugan it would have been nearly impossible.

In silence Tokuma kept track of the girl as she seemingly aimlessly ran through the streets of Konoha. He wondered what had happened. One moment she had been at the hospital with her father, the next one she was running like she had the devil himself after her. What could have happened?

Finally she stopped and Tokuma could take a moment to regain his breath. He wasn't untrained really, it was just that Neji and him had been taken by surprise by her sudden sprint through the village, and even with the Byakugan it wasn't exactly easy to keep track of one single girl on the mass of hundreds and hundreds of chakras.

Only a few minutes later she was back to moving, this time slower but with what Tokuma thought to be more determination. She had a goal and Tokuma did not think he was going to like it.

Down on the ground Rieka had come to a decision. Based on fear as it might be she could not afford to stay and think further about it. Without her chakra she was practically helpless. So she had to leave. Therefore she headed towards the gate, praying that there would be no or few guards there.

There were four guards by the gate. Two of them were already dead, one was unconscious and the fourth one just got his head hit into the wall when Rieka arrived. Rieka stared in horror at the man in the white mask standing in her way. He wore a white coat matching the mask, stains of blood bearing witness to how he had murdered these guards. In his right hand he held a short sword, which was dripping with blood from the two dead bodies on the ground.

Rieka couldn't help but tremble as she reached for her sword. Her chakra was sealed away, her only mean of defense would be to fight her way through with the sword and/or plain hand to hand combat. Considering how her opponent had just killed the guards she doubted that she would win.

Before Rieka could draw her sword another figure threw itself at the first figure. Two men in white masks battled each other and for a moment Rieka could only stare, taken by surprise by this. Then she forcefully pulled herself out of her surprise and used this distraction to slip out of the gate unnoticed.

When Tokuma reached the gate he was met with the sight of one ANBU lying on the ground, just about to be pierced with a sword by the white-cloaked ANBU standing over him. He took in the scene and realized that he had to make a choice. Either he saved the man on the ground, or he followed the girl his clan-leader had ordered him to keep watch over.

His decision was made for him when the ANBU lying on the ground reached out a hand towards him and, with a voice so familiar that it was painful, called out for him;

- "Tokuma, help me please!"

Clan may be clan, and orders may be orders, but to Tokuma his elder brother would always come first, no matter what. So he pulled out a few shuriken and sent them flying in the direction of the figure in the white cloak, who then had to jump aside in order to avoid being hit. And Tokuma charged at the man in the white cloak, determined to save his brother.

Meanwhile Rieka escaped the village, as Hyõ, the spy of Danzo, who had planned on blaming her for the murder of the guards thus giving him the perfect excuse to kill her, fought Tokuma, Hiashi's spy, and Lady Tsunade's spy, the wounded Taimei, somehow managed to force himself up on his feet and then join his younger brother in battle.

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**Also, I just want to point out that I know that ROOT and ANBU is not really the same thing, but that Rieka in this story does not really know the difference. She had a bad experience with ANBU before and is just generally upset throughout this chapter, which is the reason to her running. **


	21. Dreaming

**Sorry that I am late to update again! Sadly uni is giving me a quite uneven workload, with several essays due about the same time. Don't kill me, kill my teachers! :P **

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Kakashi was dreaming.

In the dream he was standing at the verge of a field. The grass was high and nearly reached him to his waist. Behind him there was a dark forest, with thorns and bushes hindering him from going back in. Above him the sky was blue and clear with only a few, white and fluffy clouds on it. A warm breeze swept across the field and Kakashi closed his eye, enjoying the feeling of the wind in his hair.

His eye sprung open again when he heard a sound and he looked around, trying to determine from where that sound had come.

Someone was calling out. From across the field he could hear what he thought was a woman's voice calling, though if it was for him or someone else he was not sure. Something told him it was for him though, so he stepped out into the field and started crossing it.

Twenty steps or so later he was almost hit down by a crow suddenly diving from the air, towards something just ahead of him. Afraid of what he would see but unable to stop himself Kakashi stepped forward, towards where the crow had disappeared into the grass.

Despite the knowledge that this was a dream Kakashi's breath caught in his throat and his dream-self stared in horror at the still body lying in the grass. Sakumo looked almost peaceful, like he was sleeping, had it not been for the crow currently trying to eat away on his father's corpse.

- "Shoo!" Kakashi shouted, kicking after the crow as it lifted into the air and began circling, waiting for a new chance to get to the meal on the ground. "Shoo, shoo! You can't eat my dad!" Kakashi called out, following the crow with his eyes.

The calls from the other side of the field were getting louder, more insistent. Kakashi was split, he should stay and defend his father but he also had to find out what that calling was about.

Suddenly the crow dived again, this time heading for something some distance away. Whatever it was it was hidden in the grass, so Kakashi could not see it. Dread filled him and he ran after the crow.

He was vaguely aware that there were other bodies lying around him as he plowed his way through the grass towards where the crow had disappeared. Somehow he knew that he had to hurry, or it would be too late! What would be too late he did not know, but he knew that it would be horrible it if was.

So stressed out was he that he had no time to react when he stumbled and fell flat on his stomach. Groaning in pain he lifted himself up, only to pause halfway, staring at the scene in front of him. Obito was there, one of his two eye sockets gaping empty while the other eye stared emptily towards the sky. Storm clouds were gathering above him, darkening the previously so beautiful day.

Not far away from Obito lay another body, the one of a female. She was a few years older than the body of Obito, though not yet fully grown. Her eyes, which Kakashi remembered full of love and kindness and _life _were empty and dead.

- "NO!" Kakashi cried out, raising himself up and stumbling away, noticing the crow sitting in between the two. "You shouldn't be here! Why are you here?"

No answer came, just the crow watching him to see if it would be shooed away again or not. But Kakashi could not stand to stay and look at his teammates anymore, and the calling was getting even louder now. So loud in fact that he could definitely tell that it was calling for him.

Leaving the two behind Kakashi ran further across the field while the clouds grew darker and darker above him. And then there were bodies all around him, lying down and staring emptily up at the sky. But they didn't remain that way. Instead they slowly rose, turning their dead eyes towards him. Kakashi felt sick when he noticed that some of them had no eyes, instead just two gaping holes glaring accusingly at him. Their hands reached out to touch him, grab him. He didn't know what they wanted but their hands on his body were making him feel sick and he tried to run, but it was impossible. Their cold and dead hands were holding him down and no matter how much he struggled he could not escape.

Then suddenly they backed away, letting go of him and running somewhere. There were light, though the source was not the sky but somewhere not so far from him. Kakashi sat up and his eyes fell on a sight he had never thought he would see again.

Rin was there, standing right in front of him with her eyes full of worry for him. The light that had scared the corpses away seemed to be emitting from her and when she smiled at him, glad that he was unharmed, it chased away the stormy clouds and the day was once again beautiful.

He stood up, noticing that they were both young again. Maybe twelve or thirteen years old. Rin was smiling and he couldn't help but smile back, grateful that she was there, that it had all been a horrible dream, that she was alive and there with him.

- "Here," she said, holding out a small package for him. "It's for you. For making jounin."

Surprised he looked from the package to Rin's face, seeing the sincerity in her smile. She was happy for him, proud even. And she cared enough for him to get him a gift.

- "Thanks," he said, reaching out to take the box from her.

Before his hands could touch it though the box opened by itself and he couldn't help but stare into it, horrified.

_No, _a voice inside him objected. _No, Rin gave me a first aid kit that day! She would never… _But there in the box lay a number of dead eyes, turning and twisting, focusing on him one after one as the box opened. And Rin was smiling, and somewhere in the background he was aware of those horrible corpses without their eyes.

- "What's wrong Kakashi? You already got one, don't you want more?" Rin asked, still smiling her sweet and innocent smile.

This was wrong. _WRONG, _his mind screamed at him. Before he knew what he was doing his right hand was throbbing from the force of the blow he had just delivered. Rin was on the ground, no longer smiling, the box with those awful stolen eyes beneath her. Kakashi stared down at her, hoping the illusion would go away, that things would become _right _again.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the illusion disappeared. That was not any better though, Kakashi realized. He wanted this dream to end but no matter how he tried he could not wake himself up. Instead he watched how Rin's body slowly changed until it was no longer Rin, but a young girl painfully similar but definitely not Rin. Brown eyes looked up at him from the ground, pain and confusion evident in them.

Around him the field and the forest disappeared and gave room for his own living room, sunlight shimmering in through the windows. He noticed that what he had at first thought were sharingan-eyes were in fact kunai, glimmering sharply in the light. There were blood too, coming flowing forward from the wounds on the young not-Rin-girl's wrists, where she had cut herself when she fell. Her cheek had a pink mark after his hand.

When the girl ran, picking the box of kunai with her in the process, Kakashi wanted to follow her. In the dream however he was suddenly a ghost like presence, forced to watch as his dream-self fought against ghosts that were not really there. The stench of sake and fear was sickening, but not nearly as sickening as the fact that the dream-Kakashi was totally oblivious to what was going on around him. No matter how much he tried he could not escape, and he could only watch as his daughter left the room, crying and sobbing, terrified of her own father.

- "Rieka!" he shouted, reaching out to her.

That was when Kakashi became aware that he was no longer dreaming. He was in a hospital bed, his brain foggy and slow from what he assumed was some sort of drug. Outside the window the sun was rising, telling that it was morning.

- "Kakashi-san, don't strain yourself!"

A nurse suddenly appeared seemingly from nowhere, scolding him as if he was a child refusing to eat his vegetables.

- "Now lay down, Kakashi-san! You're ill, remember? You have to take care of yourself!"

She helped him lay down again while Kakashi tried to remember exactly what had happened to make him end up in the hospital in the first place.

- "You really gave Yamato-san and me a scare tonight," the nurse continued, oblivious to Kakashi's confusion. "Really, until the doctor says anything else you should just stay in bed and rest!"

Memories came flooding back on top of the dream, taking the breath out of Kakashi. _Rieka! _She had been crying, he remembered, and he hadn't been able to understand why, and then she had run and…

- "Where's Rieka?" he asked the nurse frantically.

- "Calm down, Kakashi-san, or I'll give you another doze!"

Against his will Kakashi found himself tucked into bed, held in place by the blanket and the determined nurse.

- "Where is my daughter?" he asked again.

- "Tsunade-sama is on it, and I am sure that the Hokage is more than capable of handling a young girl."

Still groggy from whatever she had given him earlier, and under the threat of a new doze, Kakashi had no other choice but to lean back and allow the nurse to tend to him. He hoped, for Tsunade's sake, that the nurse was right and that the Hokage would be able to take care of his daughter.


	22. Secret meeting

**Have anyone else had problem accessing the site lately? Because I was going to update this Saturday but couldn't access it until today... Anyway, here is next chapter. Not so good as of yet, but I hope to take some action soon!**

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Few people would ever dream of calling Anko soft or loving. Most likely they would die a very gruesome death if they even tried. However there was no denying that the look in her face was both soft and loving as she glanced down at her lover of three years.

Kakashi slept peacefully in his hospital bed, the sedative working its magic on him. It had been a day since Tsunade personally came to visit him and tell him that they were doing their best to retrieve his daughter. Needless to say Kakashi had not reacted well to the "trying to retrieve" part, so Tsunade had ordered that he'd be sedated until he had calmed down.

Carefully Anko sat down on the bedside and grabbed Kakashi's larger hand in hers, hugging it. If her eyes were shiny of tears no one would dare to say, but she really did feel sorry for the man in the bed. After a few moments if this she shook her head and forced herself to gather her thoughts. She was a shinobi for god's sake! Shinobi was not supposed to show emotions!

- "This probably isn't much of a comfort for you but that girl of yours is doing some excellent work keeping those tracking ninjas at bay!" she silently told the sleeping man, her thumb caressing the back of his hand. "Inuzuka managed to track her to the river but then her track stops. They've checked the riversides for miles in each direction but there's no sign of her. And Hyuga has checked the river itself, but she isn't in it either, so don't worry about that."

Again she shook her head, this time thinking of the girl she hadn't really gotten to know yet. A smile graced her lips, almost a fond one.

- "She'll be great someday, I say. She just have to figure out how to."

In silence she sat at the bedside for another few minutes, allowing herself to enjoy the closeness to the man she had grown to love. Then she let go of his hand and stood up, her usual confident look back in place.

- "Well, I'm off to work. World doesn't end just because of one runaway girl you know?"

With a last look at the peaceful face of Kakashi she left the room, closing the door behind her. She prayed that he would wake up soon, and that he wouldn't continue to hurt so much. There had been a time when Anko would have advocated for kids running away from home, but this time she just wished that the foolish child would have stayed home and spared her father the pain.

In the hallway she met Naruto Uzumaki. She nodded to him briefly and then continued on her way. Tsunade-sama had called for a meeting in her office and Anko was already late. Kakashi's habits must be rubbing off on her, she thought.

When she reached the office she found Inoichi and Ibiki already there, along with Hyuga Hiashi and a man who introduced himself to her as Yamato. Anko knew that she recognized his voice under another name, but years of working alongside the ANBU had taught her not to ask unnecessary questions.

- "You're late, Mitarashi!" the hokage stated.

She shrugged, not offering any excuse, and joined Ibiki where he stood to the left of the hokage's desk. The room fell silent for a moment as Tsunade looked at them all. A silent knock from the wall outside made them all jump but Tsunade just smiled at them.

- "Ok, we're safe. You're here because I feel that you are the five people that most needs to know what is going on right now. What I will share with you is top secret information and we will not speak about it outside of this room, is that understood?"

Waiting for everyone to nod their acceptance Tsunade then continued.

- "I have for a while now had the suspicion that there is some sort of conspiracy going on. I am positive that somehow Hatake Rieka found out about this, and that this was her reason for leaving the village three years ago. When she recently returned she initially refused to tell anyone about what she had been doing or why, and we later discovered that a seal had been placed on her in order to keep her quiet. She nearly died when Yamanaka was in her mind."

Falling silent Tsunade looked around the room. None of this was news to the people gathered. It was just a very brief summary of what they had all already suspected.

- "Her initial refusal to talk indicates that the conspiracy is large in scale and/or includes people so high up in rank that she felt that she could not trust anyone in the village. However it seemed like she was settling down somewhat, until she ran away again that is. Yamato tells me that what caused her to flee was her meeting with him, and that she recognized him from a mission she had with the ANBU. Her connecting Yamato to the ANBU and ANBU to something she would need to fear makes me draw the conclusion that at least parts of ANBU are involved in this."

Silence fell over the room as Tsunade allowed this to sink in. Anko pondered this new information. She had been aware that the girl had run away of course, but until now she hadn't known why. The idea of the whole of ANBU secretly being part of some conspiracy was chilling and Anko shuddered where she stood. Of course she knew that wasn't the case, but she couldn't help but wonder how many that were involved. Were there people she had met, worked with even, that were secretly part of some horrible plot? How to know who was the enemy and who was not? ANBU was secretive enough as it was even without this.

- "There are few people that I can trust right now, but you five are among them," Tsunade stated. "Whatever this conspiracy involves they are acting without my knowledge, and as such I have to assume the worst. I need you to keep your eyes and ears open. I don't like what's going on and I am afraid that we will find ourselves into this whole mess over our head. "

They had yet to figure out who was involved and so far their only lead was the ANBU. Was it some planned coup d'état? Plans to overthrow the hokage? To take over the village?

And as if this wasn't enough there was still the problem with the Akatsuki and their hunt for the Jinchuriki. It did indeed seem like they were in way over their heads and the few gathered people in the room glanced at each other, the only people who knew what they knew. They would have to work together to protect the village against this yet unknown threat.

- "I'll ask as few trusted clan members to keep their eyes open," Hiashi finally said. "I've got eyes most everywhere, so if anything is going on then I should find out about it sooner or later."

- "Good," Tsunade said, nodding approvingly. "I have a few trusted agents on the case as well."

- "Our department mostly concern business with other villages, but we will keep our eyes and ears open as well," Ibiki spoke.

Both Inoichi and Anko nodded, agreeing with the larger man. They would have to be especially careful in their investigation as they could not afford to show any weakness towards other hidden villages right now. The last thing they needed was that someone decided that they would chance a war with Konoha on top of everything else.

- "Yamato," Tsunade said. "You will continue to do what you are doing as before. Earlier Kakashi mentioned something about an idea on how to teach Naruto something new, so hopefully he will be able to busy himself with that once he wakes up. At the moment I don't think that he needs to know the whole situation. He knows some of what is going on and I fear that details will only distract him from his role as a shinobi of the village."

Anko opened her mouth to object at this but no words would come, so she closed it again. She didn't like keeping secrets from Kakashi, especially secrets which he should be entitled to know. But then Anko wasn't the Hokage and therefore had little say in the matter.

Not much later they were all dismissed and they headed towards their individual duties. Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair, hoping that she had done the right thing. Tiredly she looked at the leaf-formed seal in the palm of her hand. It was dark and stood out in contrast against her pale skin, signaling that it was still active. She had wondered if she should undo the seal but had decided against it. After all, as far as they all knew the girl was heading towards Uchiha Itachi, who was a recognized criminal. She had no idea why the girl would prefer the company to someone like that to that of her own father, but she assumed that it had something to do with this whole conspiracy that she did not understand yet. Until she did understand it she had to do everything she could to keep the village safe, and that included making sure that the girl could not use her chakra to attack the village.


	23. Kakashi's decission

**Sorry that I haven't updated in forever! Sometimes I wonder if my teachers are seriously trying to drown me in homework... and I'm only in my first year of uni yet! And of course the load of homework has killed anything even resembling inspiration for writing. I'm trying to work on it though, and here is a short chapter to bring things forward a bit!**

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The afternoon sun was shining in through the windows of the sparsely decorated sitting room. On the floor sat a boy, still young enough to be largely unaware of the harsh world outside of his home. In front of him on the floor lay a scroll of paper, and in his hand he held a brush, its tip dark with ink.

Next to the boy sat a man, his large hands awkwardly trying to steer the boy's hand, as they drew the kanji on the scroll in front of them. Once they were finished the boy looked at the kanji, tilted his head slightly and then looked up at his father.

- "This is how you write 'shinobi'?" the boy asked.

- "Yes, Kakashi," the man replied, smiling lightly

Silently the boy drew the kanji again, his small hands struggling to make the lines perfect. The father watched with pride. His son was a genius and was already mastering reading and writing, far earlier than any of his peers.

For a moment a shadow drew over the man's face as he thought about the future for his son. A curious boy, always a fast learner. He had no illusions for the boy's future. It would not necessarily be easy or even happy.

Once the boy had finished drawing the kanji the man took the brush again, dipping it in the ink before hovering the brush above the paper again.

- "And this son, is the kanji for 'endure'."

Quickly he drew the kanji on the paper before setting the brush down, watching his son. The boy eyed the scroll in front of him for a moment, trying to make sense of what his father had just told him.

- "That's the same as for 'shinobi'," the boy finally said.

- "That's right son. Do you know why?"

His childish face wrinkled in concentration as the child tried to come up with an answer to his father's question. The man waited patiently.

- "No," the boy finally admitted. "Why is it?"

- "You see," the man explained, pulling his son into his lap, "the life of a shinobi is never easy. In many ways it is not very happy at all. That is why the kanji for 'shinobi' and 'endure' is the same, because shinobi endure what they do in order to make sure everyone else is safe."

Dark eyes looked up at the man through a fringe of white hair as the boy considered what his father had said. Despite his young age the wheels were obviously turning in his little head and after a few moments the boy nodded, obviously feeling like he understood the lesson. Sakumo smiled down at his son and picked up the brush again.

- "Now, this is the kanji for…"

Kakashi slowly woke up from the dream. His eyes remained closed against the sunlight he could feel shining at him as he tried to remember where he was.

The hospital, his nose told him. The sound of nurses and patients moving around in the surrounding rooms and the comparative silence in his own told him that he was alone. Memories started flooding back, all the while the dream he had just had remained in the back of his mind.

Mission in the Sand and his fight against Deidara.

Returning home, carried on a stretcher.

His daughter.

At the thought of his daughter more memories came flooding in, overwhelming him. His chest hurt, somewhere around the area where his heart should be had it not felt as if he was suddenly so very empty.

She had run away. Again.

His first reaction had been fury. He was in the hospital for God's sake, with nurses pointing their needles at him as soon as he put a finger out of place. Was it too much to ask that someone else look after the barely teenaged child? Was he the only competent shinobi around?

Now though his reaction was the complete opposite. Sadness, deep and achingly, spread through him, making his limbs heavy and his eyes watery. He wanted to crawl into a fetal position and cry until the pain of it all just went away.

Yet again he had somehow failed in his role as a father.

He didn't allow those feelings to get a hold of him for very long. Instead he forced himself to push the pain aside until he could think around it.

After all, he was a shinobi – one who endures.

But he was also a father – a very human father who ached to have his daughter at his side.

And so, slowly, reason took hold of him and a plan evolved. Not a very through plan, mind you, but a plan none the less. Before he was quite aware of it he had made his decision.

When the nurse, and later Tsunade-sama herself, came to see him he assured her that he was fine. His body was healing perfectly, he had calmed down now and no, he would not need another dose of sedative. Actually, he had done some thinking and thought he had come up with an idea to train Naruto into becoming even stronger.

As soon as the last news reached Naruto, it was only a matter of days before he was discharged from the hospital, much thanks to the blonde's initiative to camp in Kakashi's room and nag the nurses of his sensei wasn't healthy soon.

Kakashi held his promise to Naruto. Days were spent teaching the boy until he finally got a grasp of the technique Kakashi was trying to teach him. The boy did amazing progress, just as Kakashi had thought he would. He even wondered slightly why he hadn't thought of having the boy train with his shadow clones earlier, when the boy had still been new and struggling to keep up with his teammates.

And when those days were over and Kakashi was sent away on another mission, Kakashi did not complain.

He was a man on a mission. A very simple mission. To bring his daughter back home.

But in order for him to be able to bring his daughter home, he would have to ensure that there really was a home to return to. As it seemed, that home was more threatened these days than it had been for quite a while.

So Kakashi endured, just like shinobi were supposed to do. In the end he would reach his goal, or die trying.

Meanwhile his daughter was making use of all of her skills as a kunoichi. Sleeping outside didn't bother her, as she had been doing so on and off for the last couple of years. What did bother her was the fact that she was alone. There was no Itachi or Kisame.

She did all she did to remain hidden, hiding every trace of where she had been in fear that there would still be people out searching for her. Danzo had made it quite clear that he would like to see her dead and apparently he had agents everywhere.

In the darkness of the night she admitted to herself that she had been foolish to trust anyone in Konoha. Itachi had done so much for them and yet it all remained a secret guarded by the vilest people there were. She wondered if she too had been declared a missing nin now, like Itachi. It wasn't impossible. Not that far from reasonable actually, considering the situation.

There was no doubt in her mind that even if there were trustworthy people in Konoha, Danzo would most likely have them wrapped around his little finger whether they knew it or not. He even had agents close to her father, which made her wonder how hard it would be for him to fully turn her own father against her.

All in all, she did not regret her decision to run away. Maybe she should have thought it through a bit more, brought a blanket and some extra clothes maybe, but she was happy that she had not stayed. Danzo would not dig his claws into her too!

In the days she tried to track down Itachi. For all she was concerned, he was the only person she could trust. And she was worried about him as well. The fact that he had let her be captured by the ANBU in the first place did not ring well with her. He had protected her before and she had no doubt that if he had wanted to he would have been able to save her. So that he had not must mean that he had other plans. And if she knew him correct, her being captured by the ANBU had been his way of ensuring that she would be safe from whatever plans he had.

It didn't bode well, if he didn't think that he would be able to protect her personally. Not that she thought she needed protection of course, it was just him insisting to keep her out of trouble, even if she was with socializing with S-ranked criminals. It was just how he was.

The trouble about tracking down Itachi was of course that he was really good at keeping hidden. He had taught her some of his techniques, even taught her how to track him when he was using those techniques. But the only track she had was several weeks old and cold as ice, so she would have to search for everywhere and hope that she would eventually come across a track that was reasonably fresh. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. A very large haystack. A haystack so large it covered several countries, assuming that he hadn't decided to get on a boat and cross the sea, which would make her search even harder.

Eventually though, it was not Itachi's trail that she found.

It was Sasuke's.

A very changed Sasuke, who had every intention on tracking down Itachi and finally get his revenge.

And Rieka finally understood why Itachi had abandoned her.

So she followed Sasuke, unaware that her father was also following that same track, hoping that he would lead her to Itachi and that things were not as going to end the way she feared.


End file.
